Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: Drone75blackbird on January 31, 2012, 10:30 am
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Just claim terrorists are using it to generate money through drug trafficking etc. Isn't that a very simple way to shut down SR if they wanted to?
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.onion is not a tangible object, how can you make it illegal? I do not see how, without gaining control over the entire Tor network and cutting off access to VPNs and private proxies, any government could cut off access to hidden services.
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Domain names (like google.com) are translated to an IP using DNS. This way you just have to remember 'google.com', your computer will talk to a DNS server, receive an IP and be able to connect to the server (it can't connect solely using a domain). The root DNS servers are basically under the jurisdiction of the US, which means that they are able to control the whole www (you can circumvent this, but this is more for nerds).
Now, the domain name used by SR (silkroadvb5piz3r.onion) is similar, but technically different. It isn't DNS, but the name before ".onion" is a hash that helps Tor find the server the hidden service is hosted on. .onion is just used to make sure Tor knows to find a hidden server and not go through the DNS system. .onion is nowhere registered or available, it's just something used in Tor. To make it unavailable, you'll have to prevent people from using Tor.
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What if they just make using the Tor software illegal?
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What if they just make using the Tor software illegal?
Using pirated software is illegal. See how well that worked? :)
Of course it's a bit different: LE can use network analysis tools to determine if you're using tor. But only a slight change in the protocol and encryption is needed to mask the traffic and make it seem like something else... which can then also be forbidden and evaded, ad eternum. What it all boils down to is that it's something completely impossible to eliminate, unless ISPs take it upon themselves to completely banish Net Neutrality and turn the Internet into a Cable TV-like subscription service. Which is something they'd love to do, by the way - but on that issue, world governments seem to be on our side for the time being. Net Neutrality has a lot more on stake than our freedom to buy drugs in a convenient fashion.
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So the short answer is no, congress cannot realistically enact legislation making .onion ilegal.
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I don't see it going away... Public opinion and congress is all for show... for the masses
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In technical terms, this is arms race. And software developers will be few steps ahead of oppressors. Some countries try hard to stop people using Tor with only partial success.
In legal terms I can wipe my ass with the papers US congress produces. As long as there is no single world government, some country will be free to operate such software as Tor.
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Very interesting. Thanks for the responses everyone! Especially cache haha