Silk Road forums

Discussion => Security => Topic started by: WinterMoon on November 18, 2012, 10:53 pm

Title: Tor Browser Bundle - Grey Spinning & Green Spinning
Post by: WinterMoon on November 18, 2012, 10:53 pm
I use the Tor Browser Bundle.  There's a status thingy that changes color & direction when it spins.  At first, it is gray & it spins counter-clockwise,  Then, it turns green and starts spinning clockwise right before loading a page.  What is Tor doing when it's spinning gray?  What is happening when it starts spinning green?  I obviously need the For Dummies version if anyone can explain this.  Thanks
Title: Re: Tor Browser Bundle - Grey Spinning & Green Spinning
Post by: CoolGrey on November 19, 2012, 12:40 am
You mean that thing on the tabs?

In that case, I'm using Ubuntu and Tor for Linux, and here it is orange and grey. The Tor browser has it, but regular Mozilla Firefox does too.

It's a Firefox thing. It has to do with loading the page, but I don't know what it indicates exactly.
Title: Re: Tor Browser Bundle - Grey Spinning & Green Spinning
Post by: WinterMoon on November 19, 2012, 12:50 am
Yes, the thing on the tabs. You are correct, it is a Firefox thing.  Just curious about the mechanics of getting here, so much spinning :)

It seems like the grey spinning is Tor trying to find some way to get me to the requested server (hailing a cab) and the green spinning is when the server has been located & now I need to find a way in (waiting in line to get into a popular club)

(shrug)
Title: Re: Tor Browser Bundle - Grey Spinning & Green Spinning
Post by: Moon Fried on November 19, 2012, 12:57 am
Good question, I'd like to know the answer to this too.
Title: Re: Tor Browser Bundle - Grey Spinning & Green Spinning
Post by: CoolGrey on November 19, 2012, 12:59 am
Ask Mozilla.
Title: Re: Tor Browser Bundle - Grey Spinning & Green Spinning
Post by: WinterMoon on November 19, 2012, 01:10 am
I asked Duck Duck Goose instead of Mozilla:

"...The Tor Network is an incredibly complicated network of servers designed to anonymize your activities on the Internet. Remember, every time you load a web page your browser sends out a request for the data on that page and returns it to your home computer. When you use Tor, that request enters the Tor Network via an entry point known as a relay. Most relays are servers running a copy of the Tor software, which encrypts the request and sends it through a random series of server relays (at least two) to confuse surveillance and frustrate anyone monitoring your Internet activity.

Every time your request passes through a node it will remove a layer of the encryption, until at last your request hits an exit relay and proceeds out into the Internet again to request data from the web page you're trying to visit. Even if the server hosting the web page you're trying to access logs your search queries or IP, there will be no way for anyone to associate that data with your name...

...Unfortunately, browsing the Web anonymously through Tor is still awfully slow. The problem is that every time you access a new page you have to jump through a randomly generated number of nodes in the Tor Network, and there are less than 1,000 nodes being shared amongst all Tor users...There are three kinds of Tor relays: exit relays, middle relays and relay bridges...."

Above text copied from this site + very simple diagram: http://www.techhive.com/article/235174/tor_network_1.html

well then ...
Title: Re: Tor Browser Bundle - Grey Spinning & Green Spinning
Post by: ukmonkey on November 19, 2012, 01:34 am
When it's grey, it's trying to connect to the server.

When it's green, it has connected and is downloading the requested page.