Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: wraithe on February 23, 2013, 07:31 pm
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this applies for orbot, not sure if it does for the tor mobile for iOS.
excerpt from http://www.mobileactive.org/howtos/user-guide-to-orbot
How does it work?
Orbot sets up a connection to the Tor network and makes it available to apps through a local proxy.
For anonymous web browsing, you also need a browser app that can route your communications through a proxy. Firefox for Android with the ProxyMob add-on will work on most newer Android 2.x and 3.x phones that run Firefox easily. Orweb is a browser designed specially for Orbot, and is recommended for all other Android 1.x, 2.x and 3.x phones.
For anonymous instant messaging, you need an instant messaging app that can do the same. Gibberbot is an under-development app that will provide this functionality soon; Beem works now but does not provide end-to-end encryption, meaning it’s useful for avoiding surveillance by someone on your network (ISP, mobile network operator) but not for hiding your communications from the remote site
The exception is if you have a rooted phone, in which case Orbot can send all traffic from all apps through Tor without additional configuration.
Why use it?
Orbot is currently the only readily available mobile app that can connect to the Tor network - it is also the only mobile app approved by the Tor Project.
Orbot is developed by the Guardian Project, an intiative dedicated to developing easy to use mobile apps for people who need privacy, security and anonymity in their communications
The code for Orbot is open source and freely available for download - there are no costs involved except your airtime while browsing.
The project encourages user feedback through a mailing list, feedback form on their website, twitter account and IRC channel.
Potential risks
Despite the impressive credentials of Orbot, there are always risks to be aware of when you want to be sure you’re browsing and chatting anonymously.
To use Orbot, you need to have installed and configured the app, connected to the Tor network, and configured your browser or instant messaging client to route traffic through Orbot’s local proxy. If you don’t have Orbot configured correctly, you may not be browsing using Tor. To check, go to https://check.torproject.org/
With Orbot and any other Tor client, your ISP or mobile network operator can tell you are using Tor to browse anonymously - but not what sites you are accessing.
Unless you encrypt your browsing by using HTTPS (or use an instant messaging app that supports HTTPS - Gibberbot does, Beem does not), the last node in the Tor system (the exit node) can see your communications in plain text.
I almost downloaded it and used it, then I searched. this also doesnt cover if they log any UDIDs as I do not know that much about phone protocols. Just a heads up and a post inflater.