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Comment by SomeoneFromCA | Hacker News Reader

Probably they want to know who is actually using Tor, instead of knowing what is being transported through it.

This is the fundamental problem with TOR, and by extension, any other anonymity client whose traffic patterns stand out from everybody else's.

Just using it makes you automatically interesting to state actors.

Hence why it's important that everybody use it for innocuous reasons. Benefit is two-fold: it helps users with something to hide (eg. journalists, human rights activists) stick out less, and in the event you have something to hide, makes it less suspicious for you to use.

Tor doesn't provide enough value that users will use it. The average person will not partake unless it gives them value or it's free. Expecting anything else is a fantasy

I am not so sure about that. The top usage of tor is according to one study, by domain: Facebook, google, blackplanet, yandex, bittorent index, photobucket, craigslist.

...And that's where torrent sites and government blocks come in.

I mean, UK's move against porn is even bolder, but I doubt it that Tor handles video well.

I just tested YouTube, Vimeo, and PBSKids.

YouTube blocked the network request as suspicious though I was able to view the main page fine; I did not try creating a new circuit.

The Vimeo video played perfectly fine.

I kept creating new circuits until the exit node was US, and then the PBSKids video played fine.

YouTube works fine and has for years. Earlier this year Google started blocking some requests and due to the use of a redirect you often need to create a `New Identity` to get around it. It _usually_ helps if you visit the youtube.com homepage first, though.

That's one of my suspicions and why I think you'd want to masquerade Tor itself behind three layers of protocols here, in light of emerging DPI. You don't want cops to knock on your door one day, with a baggie of white stuff in their pocket ready to migrate to one of yours.

You may try to use Tor through VPN's.

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