[tor-talk] Cloak Tor Router

[Soul Plane]

On Sat, Nov 1, 2014 at 5:09 AM, Lars Boegild Thomsen <
lth at reclaim-your-privacy.com> wrote:

> First of all, I would like to hear more opinions about the value of a
> device such as this. I realize that most technically adept people will
> frown on a a "toy" such as the Cloak, but this device is really not meant
> for anybody who can install the Tor software on their own or someone who
> can install Tor on a Rasberry Pi. It is meant for my parents, my kids or
> anyone else who - deserve privacy but might not be technically able to
> achieve it. I fully understand and appreciate that a Tor Router such as
> Cloak will NEVER in itself be able to provide any form of anonymity or
> security. It is merely a tool that if used correctly can help enforce a
> certain level of privacy (the newly introduced or discussed Australian data
> retention laws spring to mind and I am certain other countries are
> introducing the same laws). A secondary justification are devices which
> does not support Tor. I've got a Media player in my house and that does
> "phone home" every single time I play a movie on it and there is no way I
> could possibly install Tor on it. With Cloak and NO login - that is fairly
> anonymous.
>
> Second of all I would sincerely like a discussion about the firewall rules
> and other security or usability issues with a device as this. The source is
> on Github for everybody to check and I will be happy to discuss any
> technical aspect and appreciate any constructive criticism.  I am of course
> also happy to respond to any questions thrown in my direction.
>

What happens when a new version of Tor comes out? You want to put this in
the hands of people who really don't know anything about security. To stay
secure wouldn't you or someone have to ensure that all those devices are
using the latest Tor? And how could you do that without access to the
devices? If you leave it up to the end user to do firmware updates most
people probably aren't because they are, like you say, not able to install
Tor on their own. I really don't know if your device is a good idea or a
bad idea but I cringe at what could end up as a false sense of privacy.