BlackOnyx8 said:
Should we really trust the Tor browser?
I've read that before on some tech/anonimity news that either NSA or a US gov. agency or government itself managed to track Tor users by observing the entry to the first node (which contains the real IP adress) and the exist of the third node to the actual websites people were visiting. They managed therefore to see what IPs visit what websites by observing and synchronising the time distance from the first node to the third one. While it generally make sense, I don't think it takes the same amount of time for everybody to connect to a website through Tor, or maybe that agency was using other parameters as well.
Anyway if you use a good VPN, it will replace your real IP with their IPs when you enter the first node of tor, therefore you should be safe this way, This is why I think using a VPN with Tor is infinitely better than using Tor alone as your real IP is masked completely. Your VPN provider cannot see what you do on Tor (assuming they are logging your activity) because Tor is hiding your activity under 3 random nodes and Tor cannot see your real IP adress because it was changed by the VPN.
Personally I use a double-hop VPN and Tor, which means that before connecting to Tor I connect to VPN through 2 different locations / IPs before reaching Tor, something like this;
Connecting to Joy of Satan on Tor:
Turning on the VPN --> Location 1 (IP 1) ---> Location 2 (IP 2) ---> Connecting to Tor browser: search ancient-forums ---> Node 1 ---> Node 2 ---> Node 3 ---> entering ancient-forums
The locations on VPN are two totally different countries and the nodes on Tor are also random ones from different countries.
And I think Tor doesn't like that. If you connected to Tor you might have seen this:
When I saw that first time, exactly as you said I've been thinking that some US government agency is still behind Tor and they are actively monitoring traffic (which they have been doing already for years and is not a secret) and they don't like to see users hiding behind VPNs before accessing Tor because they probably have a certain success in tracking Tor users back to their real IPs when not using VPNs.
The only disadvantage here is that the VPN provider knows the real IP adress, but since they can't see one's activity on Tor, they can't do nothing about it. Also here is recommended to use a good VPN that:
1. Is not based on the country you live
2. Is not based on any 14 eyes country
https://restoreprivacy.com/5-eyes-9-eyes-14-eyes/
I highly recommend that website Restore Privacy, I think is one of the greatest on the internet in terms of anonimity and privacy advice, including VPN analyisis, multiple articles about Tor and other anonimity platforms, you only need enough time to read all their stuff.
And I would personally add another advice:
3. Do not use same VPN two times in a row
My personal opinion is that is safer to buy different VPN license after the previous one expires because we don't know really what dirty stuff VPNs might be doing. For example telling you that they don't log your IP and activity and in reality they send all your activity and IP to some jewish server in Israel or US. I don't think is impossible. Therefore if you use different ones every 1-2 years might be better instead of sticking to the same one for who knows how many years so they can gather years of data about your activity, which who knows in the future might be used in negative ways against you. On the website I posted above there is one article about VPNs which are known to have logged users activity despite their claim of not doing that.
Preferably you would buy a VPN that supports bitcoin payment so they won't know your real bank details.
But all I said here only applies if you use a computer or laptop with a Linux operating system and not windows. I would never use a mobile for loggning into JoS or doing any SS stuff, nor I would ever install Tor on my mobile. I simply use the mobile for my personal real life stuff, so if there are authorities having a backdoor on my phone, like is claimed to be the case with all smartphones, then they won't find anything suspicious.