Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: Real_Drugs on April 13, 2013, 04:41 am

Title: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: Real_Drugs on April 13, 2013, 04:41 am
Like checking emails or watching videos on youtube with internet explorer?
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: eerva on April 13, 2013, 04:44 am
Like checking emails or watching videos on youtube with internet explorer?

If you're using Tor Browser, yes.
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: royalblue on April 13, 2013, 04:51 am
Yes.
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: anonypunk on April 13, 2013, 05:08 am
Why do you guys think its safe? I was under the assumption that it's not since the other browser will be able to see your real IP address. Give this s a shot to make my point here. Try logging into facebook using the Tor browser. Now leave Tor open and open Firefox or whatever and then you can log in with that. If you can't log into to fb because it needs to know your location then why dont you think your personal info isn't being sent when you open in another browser?
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: royalblue on April 13, 2013, 05:14 am
Why do you guys think its safe? I was under the assumption that it's not since the other browser will be able to see your real IP address. Give this s a shot to make my point here. Try logging into facebook using the Tor browser. Now leave Tor open and open Firefox or whatever and then you can log in with that. If you can't log into to fb because it needs to know your location then why dont you think your personal info isn't being sent when you open in another browser?
No, do not log into facebook over TOR. If you visit personally-identifiable sites via TOR Browser while simultaneously visiting SR then your traffic can be correlated. That is not safe to do.

What is safe is to use IE, Opera or Firefox for clearnet browsing while also using TOR Browser for silk road.
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: HarryTuttle on April 13, 2013, 05:23 am
That's how I do it, too. But I do make sure that my clearnet activities are heavily shielded from my tor activities - no correlations there!
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: eerva on April 13, 2013, 06:51 am
Why do you guys think its safe? I was under the assumption that it's not since the other browser will be able to see your real IP address. Give this s a shot to make my point here. Try logging into facebook using the Tor browser. Now leave Tor open and open Firefox or whatever and then you can log in with that. If you can't log into to fb because it needs to know your location then why dont you think your personal info isn't being sent when you open in another browser?

I'm not sure what you're saying. There's no connection that can be made between activities in Tor Browser and activities in other browsers (IE/Opera/Chrome/Safari), especially if you have Flash, Java, and JavaScript off.
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: sk3p71c on April 13, 2013, 07:33 am

AFAIK, TOR traffic appears to originate from a different IP address than your public IP address.
So I don't anticipate any problems.
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: seatturtle on April 13, 2013, 07:39 am
I thought i had read that wasn't a good idea, especially with sites like facebook etc. those sites have tons of third party scripts for tracking and are home to major traffic analysis. i would at least disable javascript to be safe.. which means no youtube. but im not an expert, just like to play it safe
Title: Re: Is it safe to use other web browsers while running tor?
Post by: gwendlesphere on April 13, 2013, 07:44 am
You'll be fine. Just keep Javascipt and flash turned off, but even then it won't matter.. There's no bridge between Tor and other browsers.

It would have been made a clear warning in the SR wiki or newbie guide if otherwise.

Stress less, unless you're in, you know, China.