Twitter launches its Tor Project onion address
Twitter may now be accessed via its dedicated Tor Project onion website. Tor users may point their browsers to https://twitter3e4tixl4xyajtrzo62zg5vztmjuricljdp2c5kshju4avyoid.onion/ to access Twitter directly.
Twitter follows a handful of major sites, including Facebook and the BBC, in launching a dedicated onion website.
The official supported browsers support page on Twitter confirms that Tor Project onion domains are now supported.
Access to the Tor network is available in several different forms. Users may download Tor Browser, which is based on Firefox ESR, to browse any site including onion sites. Some browsers, Brave needs to be mentioned here, support Tor as well. Tor Browser is available for desktop operating systems and for Google's Android operating system.
Tor uses encryption and other privacy and security features to protect user anonymity; this is done by routing the connection through a series of network nodes instead of connecting to sites directly. Tor is a popular solution when it comes to bypassing censorship or other attempts at blocking access to certain Internet sites and services.
Additionally, it may unlock access to sites that are blocked when accessed via a regular browser.
Twitter has been accessible via Tor already, but support for a dedicated .onion website takes it to the next level. Alex Muffett, who helped Twitter create the onion website, published details on the benefits of providing an onion site over allowing connections to a site via Tor on his personal website.
According to him, onion websites improve authenticity and availability of sites. Clicking or typing the onion address guarantees that the correct site is accessed via Twitter. Muffet explains that onion sites mitigate attacks carried out on rogue Tor exit notes.
The use of onion sites has other benefits, including the ability to bypass regional or national blocks of websites, protect against DNS censorship and TLS man-in-the-middle attacks, and SNI filters.
In short: the new Twitter onion website mitigates several attack types when using the Tor network to access websites.
Closing Words
The launching of a dedicated onion website improves Twitter access and security for Tor users.
Now You: do you use Tor to access sites?
Regardless of it’s limitations, thanks OP for posting this news. It’s great more and more sites are getting .onion addresses!
They’re still desperate to block our scrolling unless we sign-up/sign-in.
I tried adding :
“twitter3e4tixl4xyajtrzo62zg5vztmjuricljdp2c5kshju4avyoid.onion##+js(cookie-remover, guest_id)”
into uBlock-Origin’s My Filters settings, underneath the existing rules : “twitter.com##+js(cookie-remover, guest_id)” & “mobile.twitter.com##+js(cookie-remover, guest_id)” but it doesn’t seem to work, the white “Join Twitter” blocking panel is back! :(
Any ideas anyone?
tia
Use nitter. You’re welcome.
Yeah, thanks for the suggestion about nitter, gotta say though, wasn’t keen on the “paged” (fragmented) stream and I didn’t see an obvious way to make it continuous scrolling. Plus the extra initial step of telling nitter which page you want. And I was hoping to avoid installing any auto-link-redirect addons cos I believe customising stock Tor-Browser-Bundle makes you more fingerprintable. Anyway, I’m not actually a Twitter user — mainly it’s just about wanting to quickly check links/references posted on other regular non-Twitterverse pages and feeds.
UPDATE :
Today, after a restart, the “twitter3e4tixl4xyajtrzo62zg5vztmjuricljdp2c5kshju4avyoid.onion##+js(cookie-remover, guest_id)” filter in uBO looks like it might actually be working — at least no blocking “Join” panel so far today.
What you’re saying is true. But the fundamental issue with Twitter is it doesn’t work without JS. Nitter works without JS plus you can get scrolling but with JS, which in normal circumstances is not preferred with TB. Exception can be made for Nitter though.
Anyone would anyone go out their way to use a useless site like Twitter on Tor?
Twitter is the first step directly to lose the good benefits of a peaceful mind. :[
Thanks for the article! :]
I don’t get it. Does this mean Twitter allows you to open an account anonymously through Tor ? Without any identification such as a phone number ? Otherwise, what’s the point in logging into Twitter through Tor, if you have already surrendered personal information ?
The onion address does not change anything in regards to Twitter and your information, it just improves the accessibility over Tor.
On the “Latest Posts” page, the long address makes the article summary overflow to the right. You should add a “word-wrap: anywhere;”.
That privacy-hostile companies like Twitter show this kind of courtesy to the Tor Network shows us again that it is a scam, and that most high performance, expensive Tor nodes are actually run by the state. As if we didn’t know that already:
https://yashalevine.com/articles/tor-spooks
Do not use Internet than. Internet was created, developed and controlled by state. All IP servers belong to US Government. All unencrypted data goes through NSA.
Then don’t use the internet at all, don’t use your mobile phone, don’t use your computer, hell, don’t even use electricity at all because their advancements are funded by governements! . stop spreading FUD.
@This guy
> hell, don’t even use electricity at all because their advancements are funded by governements!
What a stupid, hyperbolic comparison to make, buddy. Jeez. My neighboring zoo is also funded by the state, yet I visit it, but this is not what this is about, right? It is about privacy, about using a supposedly decentralized network to protect that same privacy… This is what I am criticizing, not the government owning any other, unrelated thing.
All I am saying is, Tor does prioritize fast connections internally, meaning it preferably routs through the most performant servers. These servers are NOT small entities and cost substantial amounts of money to run / maintain. There are also a fair number of high performance servers. The only possible operators would be:
– the state directly or
– big corporate entities that have data sharing agreements with the state (amounts to the same thing in effect).
You do realize that the Tor network was originally set up to give US agents a crowd to hide in, right? By opening up the network to the public, adversaries of foreign nations can’t just spot a Tor user and conclude that it has to be a US agent, these guys are now hidden within a crowd of private users and can now do their thing in more anonymity. This is the sole reason the Tor network exists, there is no privacy in it for normal citizens, it exists for the purposes of secret services and secret services only.
The premise of the Tor network is granting privacy to you by routing your traffic through multiple nodes, but this implodes very quickly if the nodes are actually owned and operated by the same entity (or multiple entities that have data sharing agreements with each other, it is the same thing in the end).
@Iron Heart
Ok buddy keep ranting about priivacy but keep using Brave.
I checked the Tor sponsors list on their site and there are few notable mentions:
Current Sponsors:
DoS (Department of State)
DARPA (via Georgetown Uni.)
Previous Sponsors:
DARPA (via Pennsylvania Uni.)
DARPA (via Naval Research Laboratory)
Google
Mozilla
…
I don’t know about you, but it kind of makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable.
What would Admiral Ackbar say?
And there is a good read about Tor:
https://restoreprivacy.com/tor/
If DARPA is looking to hire hackers, Tor websites are great places to find them. Excellent choice.
It all sounds well and good until you actually visit their .onion via Tor Browser:
“JavaScript is not available.
We’ve detected that JavaScript is disabled in this browser. Please enable JavaScript or switch to a supported browser to continue using twitter.com. You can see a list of supported browsers in our Help Center.”
I knew it before I even visited it. No thanks.
@chubby rain
Yeah, the JavaScript requirement is part incompetent web development and part spying requirement, as it allows for the usual avenues of fingerprinting.
For newbies – Don’t login to Twitter when the original account was created on clearnet. Infact don’t do this for any website.
I, at least… and as a connoisseur of the TRUE “Social” Media… amn’t impressed– and e.g.– with the FAUXIAL MEDIA TOOL known as “TWITTER”!… whose creators would have us believe that it’s a “SOCIALLY ORGANIC” creation by our “organic society (i.e., our ‘unbranded society’!… and our ‘ORGANIC SOCIETY’ being synonymous with our “metexistential society” reflective of our NGO+NPO and webizen communities, corespectively… and that/ which I-S-N-‘-T ACTING IN THE G-U-I-S-E of being ‘organic’!)”!
“TWITTER” is a “KERDOS MEDIA TOOL”! That is to say, it is a “FOR-PROFIT MEDIA TOOL”, P-R-E-T-E-N-D-I-N-G to be a SOCIALLY FASHIONED Media tool!… and one, that– the KERDOS would have us believe!– we’re all supposed to be paying attention to!
TWITTER isn’t given it’s? tag for nothing! But, I can’t quite figure out– so far– why such Twitter transactions are named “TWEETS”! I guess the proper ascription for those who implement said transactions may be viewed– by some– as somewhat pejorative, and less than kind!… and so and thus, is left unexpressed! Nevertheless, God give Twitter’s hapless unthinking souls the wisdom to leave the “TWITTER RAT PACK”!
I’ve NO INTENTION of using this FAUXIAL MEDIA TOOL, N-O-R C-A-T-E-R-I-N-G T-O I-T-S I-N-O-R-G-A-N-I-C S-U-B-S-C-R-I-B-E-R-S!… and whether these subscribers be aware of it’s? DYSfunctionality or not! That’s to say, until: a) it’s in the “CONTROL” of our “ORGANIC COMMUNITIES”; b) it adheres to ALL Human ICT Rights; c) it’s COST-FREE (given the stated “ESSENTIAL NATURE” of it’s? technoma!… and so, should be available to a poor person on a rooftop during a storm, and not just to one who subscribes to it’s? “clique services”– and at a hefty cost!); d) until it’s programmed with Free and Open Source Software/ FOSSware (i.e., “Free” as in “Freedom”… see, Richard Stallman of the FSF); e) it is on a hardware device utilizing Free and Open Source Hardware/ FOSHware (ditto, re d]!); and, f), it’s given a more “user-friendly” tag!
Simply put, those attempting to legitimize the use of Twitter are the same as those who would sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo, pet rocks to uptown preteens, monetize the collection of rainwater in places like South America and open up Oxygen Bars in hapless upscale urban communities!
I’m also not impressed with “Facebook”… whose creators would also have us believe that it’s a “SOCIALLY ORGANIC” creation by our “ORGANIC SOCIETY”! “Facebook”, is– as well!– a “KERDOS MEDIA TOOL (i.e., a ‘FOR-PROFIT MEDIA TOOL’, P-R-E-T-E-N-D-I-N-G to be a ‘SOCIALLY CREATED MEDIA TOOL’)”!
I’ve lost track of the number of websites I have gone into wherein the Facebook plugin was being used, and there was either one lone Comment Posted, or there was none whatsoever! It got to the point, that if I saw the Facebook plugin’s face icon (the image of a wannabe Comment Logger with unkempt hair!… and whether facing forward or backward, I can’t be certain!), I would leave the website! And of recent, I have been making a special effort to make known my rationale for my disinterest in this Plugin to as many “Contact windows” as I can… and, why sites should reconsider their respective approach to Blog Comment Hosting/ Comment Log Hosting/ Clog Hosting!
I don’t like, or use Facebook!… and none of the people I hang with use Facebook! And, for me, that’s either an indication that I’m hanging with very highly crit(i?c?) Facebook crowds, or, that Facebook is not all that it’s? hype suggests!
Apart from it’s? POOR RECORD on “Human ICT Rights”, it’s another case in point of a Website Comment Hosting Service that/ which obliges hurdles in order to participate in said “Public Discussions”, re “Publicly Posted” stories! And, I ask myself:… “REALLY?… for what reason?”
In light of the ABUNDANT News Stories concerning Facebook’s P-O-O-R RECORD on Human ICT Rights, why would I– SHOULD I!– share with an “element” of “Comment Loggers/ Cloggers”, who have: a) forsaken their CONSCIENABLE FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION; b) forsaken Facebook’s accountability re Human ICT Rights (and, compromising, potentially, anonymity as a consequence); and c), individually and collectively entertained a spirit of utter indifference to the very means these have chosen to communicate their respective messages? In other words… and to paraphrase the late Aldous Huxley!… “THE ‘MEANS’ THESE HAVE CHOSEN HAVE DETERMINED THE VERY NATURE OF THE ‘ENDS’ THESE HAVE PURSUED AND PRODUCED (I.E., THEIR RESPECTIVE MESSAGES!)!” And to paraphrase the late Marshall McLuhan (though, giving deference to the idioms of Aldous Huxley… see Huxley’s work, Ends and Means!):… “THE MEDIUM (THE MEANS!) HAS BECOME THE MESSAGE (THE ENDS!)!”
Thanks!… but!… NO THANKS! Whether it is CLOGGER STUPIDITY, or CALLOUS CLOGGERS, either way, their “MEANS” of communication is a direct and indirect “T-A-I-N-T-E-D C-O-M-M-E-N-T” on the “ENDS” of their respective communications! And so and thus, MY participation in the Plugin, would TAINT M-Y ENDS/ message!… and, regardless of the story, or stories to be discussed! In other words, using Facebook (and in particular, it’s? plugin!)… and regardless of any hosted blogs!… IS A NON-STARTER!… A-N-D, F-O-R A-N-Y-O-N-E W-I-T-H A C-O-N-S-C-I-E-N-C-E!
And despite the rare occasions wherein Facebook hosted sites may entertain dozens (or more) of Cloggers’ Clogs, MY website association/ participation– at least!– is not based upon supporting some “ARTIFICIALLY CREATED MASS HYSTERIA”!… and joining some “VIRTUAL CYBER CLUB LINEUPS” at the latest, “VIRTUAL CYBER CLUB OF THE WEEK”!
Signing in, on, or up, logging in, on, or up, becoming a member, registering, getting an account, securing a password, providing an email address, paying (and indeed, paying!), and otherwise obtaining a “cyber mark of the beast (and, in order to PUBLICLY COMMENT on stories in said ‘PUBLIC SITES’!)”, is not only SOO PASSE, such site practices breach the spirit of the words in the UN Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, by David Kaye… AND!… BREACH THE COMMON SENSE THAT C-O-N-S-C-I-E-N-A-B-L-E S-O-U-L-S BRING TO PUBLIC DISCUSSIONS! And further… and leaving aside, for the moment, the current reporting on Facebook’s complicity in the release of millions of netizens’ personal records to TRUMPIANS, which have used same– it’s said– to compromise the 2016 U.S. Federal Election(s) Process (and, who may do so again in the not too distant future!)!… numerous sites have made comment on the displaying by Facebook of those involved in the commission of murder, and in acts of suicide! And, therefore, such allowances by Facebook should give “reflective website owners” “reflective pause”, re their continued use of this Blog Comment Hosting “Service”, and Plugin! And simply scripted, ZUCKERBERG SHOULD NOT RECEIVE ANOTHER DIME FROM ANOTHER CLICK!
“CLICK MONETIZATION” is a breach of my Human Digital Rights, as a monetary reward granted a site regardless of my true intent regarding the click, can– potentially– reward a bad site for it’s? bad content (AND WEBSITE PRACTICES!) by mere virtue of my “clicking”… and THAT violates my Freedom of Conscience, Freedom of Association, Free Speech, Feedom of the Press… AND, ET CETERA!
Now… one could say that the rewards afforded a website through “CLICK INTERESTS” for the traffic generated has NOTHING to do with ME (save, my clicks!)!… however, should the information promoted on a website be detrimental to the PUBLIC GOOD (and including the ads that webizens may haplessly inadvertently click onto) then we do disservice to the common good by not affording individuals their RIGHT to block a “click reward”, and in the same manner as webizens now have to block ads in general! In other words, webizens are haplessly inadvertently allowing the underwriting of bad content (and site practices) throughout the Web, because there’s no mechanism in place to keep “CLICK INTERESTS” from perverting the common good, and circumventing/ denying Human Digital Rights through their MANIPULATION OF “CLICK INTENTIONS”! And this “CLICK RIGHT MANIPULATION EFFECT (or CRIME, for short)”, is no less as egregious than the SEME reported by Dr. Robert Epstein (and, et al), or the “Search Engine Optimization Manipulation Effect!… i.e., a type of SEME operating in collusion with participating websites through “Search Engine Optimization”/ SEO (or put simply, funding some “Net insiders” to ALGORITHM[ICLY] COLLUSIVELY ARRANGE placing one’s website at the top of some search engine search result, “cyber-bird pecking order”!)!
MY CLICKS ARE A PART OF MY FREE EXPRESSION!… AND NO “MONETARY INTERESTS” HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUBVERT MY CLICKS INTO SUPPORT FOR BAD BEHAVIOUR THAT ISN’T SUPPORTIVE OF THE COMMON GOOD! AND SO AND THUS, FOR “MONETARY INTERESTS” TO SAY THAT MY CLICKS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH ME, AND WHETHER BAD WEBSITES SHOULD EXIST BY WAY OF THEIR AID (FINANCIAL OR OTHERWISE!), IS RIDICULOUS!
To close…
I note with interest, that Microsoft (whose Operating System I’ve been using for decades… in conjunction with the TorProject’s Browser!) now has Operational Control of the Github Platform (see, https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-github-code-moderation/… a “go-to-source” for everything Tor related… but, a veritable CONFLICT OF INTEREST in the light of the “backdoor breach revelations” provided by Edward Snowden and Julian Assange against Microsoft [see, https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/ and https://www.independent.co.uk/news/edward-snowden-claims-microsoft-collaborated-nsa-and-fbi-allow-access-user-data-8705755.html%5D)… and in apparent contrast to Tor’s proffered Human ICT Rights Protecting tome! So I ask you: “What would possess a self-professing defender of Human ICT Rights to allow it’s? go-to-source for everything Tor to be bought out by a group that the wisest of it’s? wannabe/ would-be followers and supporters suspect has been– and, suspect continues to be!– in breach of the very Human ICT Rights that it claims to uphold?”… and also: “What portion of the $7.5 billion given out by Microsoft for Github, has– in fact!– come by way of any number ANTI HUMAN ICT RIGHTS STAKEHOLDERS (e.g., the U.S. Government’s Agencies [‘Intelligent’ or otherwise!], and Corporate ICT Interests… but, etc.!), that/ which seek to undermine/ undo the FOS community’s decades of FOS app developments through MS’ new ‘cyber dogchain’ around github’s neck?” And don’t forget what Bill said re Linux: “It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there is not.”… nor, what Stallman said about Microsoft: “Today’s Microsoft is a megacorporation with thousands of patents. MS said in court that the main competition for MS Windows is ‘Linux’… meaning, the free software GNU/Linux operating system. Leaked internal documents say that Microsoft aims to use software patents to stop the development of GNU/Linux.” (See, https://bit.ly/3HbtdAA)
As for those who might contend that my observations verge on hysteria and hyperbole, I’d simply offer that Wired, Independent, WikiLeaks and WIKIPEDIA are but a small fraction of the webizen community that/ which have made significant contributions to the reporting of Cyber Security threats!… and truths! (See, bit.ly/3pKz6ir)
All the Best!… and may God Bless!
P.S.:…
In a recent comment made to Ghacks, some expressions were “partially underlined” for “grammat(i?c?) effect (e.g., I have begun the practice of bringing attention to the oddity of using ‘its’ as a possessive term [adding an apostrophe and an underlined ‘s’, instead], when the standard practice for the use of a possessive for all other words and onoma, is to add an apostrophe and an ‘s’ … save, when a word or onoma ends in an ‘s’– to which, an apostrophe is then added at the end!… but which, in the case of ‘its’, ‘runs afoul’ of the contraction of ‘it is [and hence, my addition of the underlined ‘s’ to the aforescripted apostrophe!]’!)”… however, the words and onoma that I’ve underlined failed to manifest afterupon Posting– and appeared as question marks! In other words, your “Blog Comment Host” had failed to recognize underlined text– at least, in partial form.
Where my “grammatic promptings” may lead to is uncertain… maybe, the adoption of my underlined option– or otherwise!… nevertheless, I’m compelled to confront and to address the said grammatic inconsistency to the best of my ability! I have “stuck my foot in the grammatic door”… initiating an unspoken “grammatic entreaty”!… but, my “Press” has been hindered!
A comma should always come AFTER the second set of single or double quotes re a quoted expression… or that used for emphasis… unless, such is a part of the quoted expression! Otherwise, one is making a comma– by “grammati?c? default”!– a part of the quoted expression… and thereby and therewith in the doing, imposing intrusive pseudogrammatic rules upon another’s quoted expressions. And for histori?c? context, see the page within the typewriter [postcredit] to the end of the UNEDITED ORIGINAL of the movie, The More The Merrier [starring Joel McCrae and Jean Arthur]… BUT, ETC.!)
In Posting ANYWHERE, I give NO SANCTION to/ for a breach of my Constitutionally protected Rights and Freedoms, nor, to/ for a violation of any of the “Articles” to be found within the “Universal declaration of Human Rights”/ UDHR (and, e.g., Article 27 of the UDHR, wherein we read: 1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community [e.g., this site], to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits; and 2., Everyone has the RIGHT to the PROTECTION of the MORAL and MATERIAL INTERESTS resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he [one!] is the author [e.g., the Blog Comment that you are now reading!]). And so and thus, EVERY WEBSITE on the Net– by Human Rights default– must not only provide webizens with a Blog Comment Host widget with which to facilitate PUBLIC Free Speech and Press Freedom re PUBLICLY POSTED site blogs, but also ensure that webizen Postings (Public or Private) are Constitutionally and UDHR protected! And if there be a dispute between the Privacy Policy of this site and the Constitution’s and UDHR’s Rights and Freedoms, the latter shall prevail!
You okay?
Yup, I’m fine!… and incidentally, SCRAM!
In Posting ANYWHERE, I give NO SANCTION to/ for a breach of my Constitutionally protected Rights and Freedoms, nor, to/ for a violation of any of the “Articles” to be found within the “Universal declaration of Human Rights”/ UDHR (and, e.g., Article 27 of the UDHR, wherein we read: 1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community [e.g., this site], to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits; and 2., Everyone has the RIGHT to the PROTECTION of the MORAL and MATERIAL INTERESTS resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he [one!] is the author [e.g., the Blog Comment that you are now reading!]). And so and thus, EVERY WEBSITE on the Net– by Human Rights default– must not only provide webizens with a Blog Comment Host widget with which to facilitate PUBLIC Free Speech and Press Freedom re PUBLICLY POSTED site blogs, but also ensure that webizen Postings (Public or Private) are Constitutionally and UDHR protected! And if there be a dispute between the Privacy Policy of this site and the Constitution’s and UDHR’s Rights and Freedoms, the latter shall prevail!
Here’s the kind of guy, who when asked if he wants to paste a Lorem Ipsum, says, “Nah, I’ll do it myself!”
TIL you can fit an entire thesis into a ghacks comment! XD
TD;DR :]
So you are telling me, that capitalizing every second word improves the readability? Are you, yourself actually reading texts that are formated in the way your own text is? Probably not.
So lets try again. Shorter, less capital words and maybe less chaotic, please.