Re: [Tails-dev] NSA

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Author: flapflap
Date:  
To: tails-dev
Subject: Re: [Tails-dev] NSA
sam pollina:
> Hello I am a Tails user. I don't hack into anything or look at anything bad on
> the deep web. I wanted to know if the roumor is true that the NSA spys on anyone
> that uses Tails or Tor browser. Can you please email me back. Thankyou


Yes, they do (assuming they still use these XKS rules):
https://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/aktuell/nsa230_page-1.html
also comments from Bruce Schneier (a well known cryptographer):
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/07/nsa_targets_pri.html

But the more important question now is:
How do you react to that or what does that fact mean to you?

From my point of view, it makes no sense /not/ to use Tails or Tor /in
most cases/:
o When not using Tails/Tor, "they" see /additional/ information like
source and destination, and possibly even the content(!). When using
Tails/Tor, they only see encrypted communication to the Tor network
and the possibly unencrypted data going in to/out of the exit node.
(so make sure that you use HTTPS for web pages that support it; be
aware that -- in general -- everything you send unencrypted (like
HTTP) might have been tampered with, intercepted, and stored
indefinitely)
o If you happen to be in an environment hostile to Tor (like Iran,
China), you should not connect to the Tor network directly (likely,
your connection will be logged and blocked). Instead, you should
connect to Tor via Bridges:

https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/startup_options/bridge_mode/index.en.html

Also note, that traffic from Tails does not look fully identical to
traffic from the Tor Browser Bundle:
https://tails.boum.org/doc/about/fingerprint/index.en.html

Cheers,
~flapflap