Tor is an anonymizing network - connect to it and there is no way for a web server serving a webpage that your are viewing to know what your IP address is (as they usually do). It can also be used to bypass ISPs that may be blocking websites (typically in countries that heavily censor the web) by enabling a computer to connect to the website via a server that is outside of the censored zone but not itself censored. Tor networks are also very heavily encrypted - though note it is not possible to encrypt the entire connection between your computer and a webpage unless it is a HTTPS connection - it is I think better to use a normal encrypted VPN than a Tor network if encryption is your priority.

There is a link to a page on the Tor network on this page.

Why would your joe moron neighbour bother to wire tap your connection?

You don't need to worry about this, you would be wiser investing your resources into measures to prevent your ISP and the government (hence any sort of cloud services and stuff stored on the internet) from snooping on your data, because first of all that is a real risk, and by doing that you would also address your concerns of your neighbors using a wire tap.

Check out "VyprVPN" (google it) and go from there (alternatives, similiar services et) - this is a good starting point for something which you might be interested in.

Edited by Pipexer (Sun 24-Feb-13 22:37:49)

If we can get the prejudice out of the way, I'm neither a "jihadist or paedophile" - I think that essentially the higher the value a crime target you are then the more likely local area thieves will put time and resources otherwise into the exercise. Please have some respect for high value crime targets :|

Sounds dishonest to me and rather paranoid!

In reply to a post by cerberus2:

If we can get the prejudice out of the way, I'm neither a "jihadist or paedophile" - I think that essentially the higher the value a crime target you are then the more likely local area thieves will put time and resources otherwise into the exercise. Please have some respect for high value crime targets :|

*Snigger* I'm stuck between wanting to be amused by the comment on prejudice and the last couple of sentences.

You, sir, are a genius, and I hope the local area thieves do not put time and resources into you!

Edited by deleted (Sun 24-Feb-13 22:47:56)

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

*Snigger* I'm stuck between wanting to be amused by the comment on prejudice and the last couple of paragraphs.

You, sir, are a genius, and I hope the local area thieves do not put time and resources into you!

You are slightly out of order, and while you probably meant it in jest, you should have not brought the pedophile nonsense into it.

People have a right to protect their privacy, just because they want to protect their privacy and anonymity, does not mean they are dodgy or up to illegal activities.

Pipexer, privateinternetaccess is better - but you have to know what you are doing (it doesn't do the job properly out of the box - ref previous post on VPNs).

If you are using such a service then all that someone wire tapping in your village would see is traffic between your PC and the VPN endpoint, which is encrypted.. in which case, very little to worry about.

XRaySpeX - the cops can look at my Internet connection if they want, but legally. And yes I am paranoid, as this book intended for computer systems administrators puts it:

'Paranoia Is Common Sense ... In general, cries of "paranoia" are really just a sign that you are performing your job well. After all it is your job to be at least one level more paranoid than ... crackers [hackers] hope you will be.'

The point I think is to be paranoid enough to know what thieves are going to contemplate next, and you will be OK.

I would question why the cops need to look at your internet connection?

Any organized crime which is.. err... organized, would use encryption so the cops can look at it all day long - they won't be able to make any sense of it.

I really don't know enough about the matter as I should but I don't think the cops can legally just look at your connection traffic without a solid reason.

Nobody has any right to snoop on what I use my internet connection for or treat me as a criminal, if they have suspicion I am up to something no good then fair enough, but spying on everyone assuming them to be criminals is wrong.

I think regardless of whether you are a small business or personal user, or an enterprise, wire tapping is not, really, in itself something to be concerned about, as things should be encrypted in the first place which would do away with the wire tapping risk.