Tuesday, September 25, 2018

This May be a Dumb Question, and I May Have Asked it Before ...

... but after not thinking about it for some time, I'm thinking about it again and don't remember asking it or getting answers. So:

There are various "mini-routers" for sale that seem to chiefly serve the function of letting one interpose a VPN and/or Tor in between a laptop and a public WiFi hot spot, hotel WiFi, etc.

If I use one of those (with Tor installed/configured/running) to connect a Chromebook or Chromebox to a WiFi network (such as my home network), am I getting such functions as Tor offers? That is, am I connecting to .onion web sites via entry/exit nodes with full Tor connection privacy protections, (aside from as regards the connection between my computer and the router itself, and the fact that my ISP would "see" that I'm using Tor)?

Yes, I understand that Tor isn't quite the bee's knees some people think it is. It's obviously not going to make me "anonymous" at a site where I log in using the same credentials I use to log in when I'm not using Tor.  I understand there are (or at least were) vulnerabilities.

In fact, I'm not thinking about it because I want to visit sites that might get me in trouble or anything. I look at it the same way I look at encryption: The more people using it, the less any one person using it stands out. So considering how cheap these things are, if they effectively let me use Tor on a Chromebox, I might grab one some time.

Side note: I've seen a Chrome extension that lets one access .onion sites from a Chromebook/Chromebox. But as I understand it, that extension doesn't actually provide any of the confidentiality benefits of Tor. It just lets you get to the sites.

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