Web Browsing with Tor

In my Installing Privoxy post I said I needed to install Privoxy for a certain task. I decided to use Privoxy with Tor to facilitate anonymous Web browsing.

First I installed Tor via package.

orr:/root# pkg_add -vr tor
...edited...
Package 'tor-0.1.1.23' depends on 'tsocks-1.8.b5_3' with 'net/tsocks' origin.
...edited...
extract: Package name is tsocks-1.8.b5_3
extract: CWD to /usr/local
extract: /usr/local/man/man1/tsocks.1.gz
extract: /usr/local/man/man5/tsocks.conf.5.gz
extract: /usr/local/man/man8/tsocks.8.gz
extract: /usr/local/bin/tsocks
extract: /usr/local/etc/tsocks.conf.sample
extract: /usr/local/lib/libtsocks.so.1
extract: /usr/local/lib/libtsocks.so
extract: /usr/local/share/examples/tsocks/tsocks.conf.complex.example
extract: /usr/local/share/examples/tsocks/tsocks.conf.simple.example
extract: /usr/local/share/examples/tsocks/README
...edited...
Package 'tor-0.1.1.23' depends on 'libevent-1.2' with 'devel/libevent' origin.
 - already installed.
Running pre-install for tor-0.1.1.23..
Added group "_tor".
Added user "_tor".
extract: Package name is tor-0.1.1.23
extract: CWD to /usr/local
extract: /usr/local/man/man1/tor.1.gz
extract: /usr/local/man/man1/tor-resolve.1.gz
extract: /usr/local/man/man1/torify.1.gz
extract: /usr/local/bin/tor
extract: /usr/local/bin/tor-resolve
extract: /usr/local/bin/torify
extract: /usr/local/etc/tor/tor-tsocks.conf.sample
extract: /usr/local/etc/tor/torrc.sample
extract: CWD to /usr/local
extract: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/tor
...edited.
================================================================================
To enable the tor server, set tor_enable="YES" in your /etc/rc.conf
and edit /usr/local/etc/tor/torrc.  Also note that the rc.subr script overrides
many torrc options and is tunable.  See /usr/local/etc/rc.d/tor.sh for details
================================================================================
...truncated...

Next I made a copy of the config file and enabled Tor's startup script.

orr:/root# cp /usr/local/etc/tor/torrc.sample /usr/local/etc/tor/torrc
orr:/root# echo "tor_enable=YES" >> /etc/rc.conf

Finally I told Privoxy to accept connections and send them to Tor, which would listen on port 9050 TCP.

orr:/root# echo "forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 ." >> /usr/local/etc/privoxy/config

Using SOCKS4A means my local host will not make DNS requests. Instead, they will be made by the SOCKS server (ostensibly through Tor).

Thanks to this guide for help!

Now I start Privoxy.

orr:/root# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/privoxy start
Starting privoxy.

Finally I start Tor.

orr:/root# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/tor start
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/tor: WARNING: /var/db/tor is not a directory.

That's no good. I make the required directory. (Why isn't that a default?)

orr:/root# mkdir /var/db/tor
orr:/root# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/tor start
Starting tor.
Sep 18 10:50:59.336 [notice] Tor v0.1.1.23. This is experimental software. 
 Do not rely on it for strong anonymity.
Sep 18 10:50:59.346 [notice] Initialized libevent version 1.2 using method kqueue. Good.
Sep 18 10:50:59.348 [warn] /var/db/tor is not owned by this user (_tor, 256) but by root (0). 
 Perhaps you are running Tor as the wrong user?
Sep 18 10:50:59.349 [warn] Failed to parse/validate config: Couldn't access/create private data 
 directory "/var/db/tor"
Sep 18 10:50:59.350 [err] tor_init(): Reading config failed--see warnings above. For usage, try -h.

Shoot. I need to let the _tor user access the directory I just made.

orr:/root# chown _tor:_tor /var/db/tor

Now I start Tor.

orr:/root# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/tor start
Sep 18 11:12:06.587 [notice] Tor v0.1.1.23. This is experimental software.
 Do not rely on it for strong anonymity.
Sep 18 11:12:06.597 [notice] Initialized libevent version 1.2 using method kqueue. Good.
Sep 18 11:12:06.597 [notice] connection_create_listener(): Opening Socks listener on 
 127.0.0.1:9050
Sep 18 11:12:06.600 [warn] options_init_logs(): Can't log to stdout with RunAsDaemon set; 
 skipping stdout

Let's see what's listening.

orr:/root# sockstat -4
USER     COMMAND    PID   FD PROTO  LOCAL ADDRESS         FOREIGN ADDRESS      
_tor     tor        39325 4  tcp4   192.168.2.5:57518     62.35.214.207:9030
_tor     tor        39325 5  tcp4   127.0.0.1:9050        *:*
_tor     tor        39325 6  tcp4   192.168.2.5:56850     70.32.145.204:9001
_tor     tor        39325 8  tcp4   192.168.2.5:64675     218.189.210.17:4806
root     privoxy    39312 3  tcp4   127.0.0.1:8118        *:*
richard  ssh        691   3  tcp4   192.168.2.5:49499     172.16.3.2:22
root     sendmail   468   4  tcp4   127.0.0.1:25          *:*
root     sshd       462   4  tcp4   *:22                  *:*
root     syslogd    320   7  udp4   *:514                 *:*

Now I configure my Web browser to connect to port 8118 (where Privoxy is listening), and Privoxy will send my traffic to port 9050 TCP where Tor is listening.

Now if I browse to a site like whatismyip.com I get a result like 195.71.8.10, which is plug.rfc822.org.

You can see Tor node status at sites like serifos.eecs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/exit.pl and node2.xenobite.eu/torstat.php.