[kwlug-disc] netalyzr/ispgeeks interpreting [was: Re: Reliable Broadband speed test]

[unsolicited]

Kyle Spaans wrote, On 03/07/2011 5:50 PM:
> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 5:17 PM, Cedric Puddy <cedric at thinkers.org> wrote:
>> Yeah, agreed, TOR end nodes are best set up on dedicated IP
>> addresses that do not share with other non-TOR traffic.
> 
> You can run a non-exit TOR node can't you? It's not as great, because
> you're not allowing people to hop out of the TOR network, but you can
> still act as a cog in the machine and contribute a set amount of
> bandwidth.
> 
> P.S. Apparently the NSA runs a healthy number of TOR exit nodes. Why?
> Because most people are silly enough to run unencrypted traffic
> through TOR. (I.E. If you connect to a server via telnet, but through
> TOR, you're still going to get owned.)

<sigh>

Not too sure running encrypted through tor is all that different than 
running encrypted not through TOR. The anonymous bit torrent weanies 
claim you're only safe with them - as ISPs now have stuff to decrypt 
your VPN and see what you're really doing. I don't believe it - they 
could prove traffic to a web site, but not the nature or specifics of 
the traffic. Otherwise SSL would be getting a whole lot stronger, 
daily. A lot of scare mongering and FUD going on out there. It's 
probably a little scary to think how much money they're pulling in, 
for no value.

My impression here of tor is less the anonymity of it than access. I'm 
thinking of China restricted sites to its citizens (Tibet), Egypt, and 
those that tried to shut down the internet pre-Egypt. (I haven't heard 
anything about Libya doing anything with the internet - which seems 
strange, they learned Egypt's lesson in that regard, but no other 
regard so that he's still there and civil war is on???) Is my 
impression here of tor wrong?

I take it it's not possible to divide or split traffic if you're an 
endpoint? Say, sourced from inside the network, let it go out freely, 
otherwise 'tor it'? Secondary ip address? Virtual IP? (Don't some ISPs 
give you a 2nd IP address free, or is that long passe?)