🇮🇷 Update: Brief returns of internet access are driving spikes in Snowflake usage.

[Guest]

@torproject the web page doesn't give a lot of detail, even in the faq section. Tor browser (which i use) says it's "ready to use" on the page, but zero info on how to activate and host a snowflake in Tor browser like you can with firefox extension.

[sgs@det.social]

@torproject

Orbot saugt den Akku leer, zumindest bei mir auf dem Handy (Android). Auf dem Notebook im FF läuft es prima.

[freigeist62@nrw.social]

@torproject
Just do it please!

[shadowdancer@mstdn.social]

@torproject
I operate, and have for years already, a regular relay. Is that of any help? I might be able to fire up another one, albeit with a rather limited bandwidth.

[sb@metroholografix.ca]

@torproject
How do clients know to connect to an instance of snowflake? Does the server 'phone home' somewhere to list itself as available?

[shark@miniwa.moe]

@sb @torproject we have to connect to a broker, which gives us an IP address of an active proxy. The broker itself is domain fronted behind another big website (like bunny.net, cdn77, these two currently work on MCI, in my region at least)

[sb@metroholografix.ca]

@Shark @torproject
Thank you.

I'm just wondering, once a standalone instance of snowflake is running on a server and the ports have been opened up, how is that instance discovered?

[rebootdeluxe@infosec.exchange]

@sb @torproject Snowflake clients and snowflake proxies find each other via a broker:

https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/wikis/Technical%20Overview

[sb@metroholografix.ca]

@rebootdeluxe @torproject
Ah, perfect - exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

[shark@miniwa.moe]

@sb @torproject I'm not sure exactly how, but maybe because snowflake proxies are used as entry nodes, broker discovers them the same way that TOR entry nodes are discovered (which I also don't know how)

maybe tomorrow I'll start reading on it a bit

[blackwolf@fedi.at]

@sb @torproject Bitchat also uses the tor network by default. So running a Snowflake proxy node will support it as well.

[blackwolf@fedi.at]

@torproject I'm running the plugin in Brave browser since approximately 2 years or so. But just set up a permanent proxy node on my VPS as well.

[shark@miniwa.moe]

@sb @torproject found something
"Proxies poll the broker periodically, using ordinary HTTPS requests."
https://www.bamsoftware.com/papers/snowflake/

[shark@miniwa.moe]

@sb @torproject also snowflake works behind NAT, there is no need for opening a port.

[ondrejzizka@mastodon.social]

@joevan @Ann_Effes @torproject Are we talking about security here?
Having this as a browser extension, next to my banking, email, docs and all, sounds a little crazy. This should be a process running under its own user.

[joevan@mastodon.social]

@OndrejZizka @Ann_Effes @torproject

For LINUX:

- it is open source
- it runs in the context of Firefox
- it does not need any additional rights

For WINDOWS:

- everything is always not secure

[blackwolf@fedi.at]

@trrektor @torproject statistics of the first hour after setting up a new proxy node today:
In the last 1h0m0s, there were 21 completed successful connections. Traffic Relayed ↓ 15910 KB (4.42 KB/s), ↑ 8912 KB (2.48 KB/s).

So, I don't think you will really notice any impact.

[joevan@mastodon.social]

@OndrejZizka @Ann_Effes @torproject

But if you are concerned: Buy a used Raspberry Pi, install the OS and Docker. Run Snowflake in a docker container:

Tor Project | Docker setup

Defend yourself against tracking and surveillance. Circumvent censorship. | Docker setup

(community.torproject.org)

20 to 30 bucks and 30 minutes to install everything

[ann_effes@berlin.social]

@OndrejZizka @joevan @torproject

I use about 4 browsers, each for a certain purpose. I installed the extension in Brave, which I use for test purposes only, nothing serious.

I considered installing it on one of my servers, but my network setup is quite strange (double NAT with IP blackholeing) and because of that it would not work actually.

(And I am on a Mac , not Windows)

[ann_effes@berlin.social]

@joevan @OndrejZizka @torproject

Why the docker container? Makes things more complicated for beginners and does not add to security if you have a dedicated RPi anyways.