Hacker News Reader

Can the NSA 'tag' a specific user using Tor? If so, wouldn't using Facebook over Tor then provide them with a direct link between your FB identity and your other Tor activity?

View on HN

Yes. If someone captures identifiable information then a user can be identified. This can be minimized by using SSL to connect to services. A service may share data so you should also use only a single service within a Tor session. That includes closing tabs to prevent ajax requests.

A new session can be created by restarting Tor or from the tor indicator if within TAILS.

Note that, although you are right that you should usually use https on tor, it does NOT APPLY to hidden services. Hidden Services are end-to-end encrypted, regardless of whether you use http or https. That is also why a site like Silk Road simply used http: it was a hidden service.

The reason for this is that it never leaves the Tor network. Traffic from a tor client to a hidden service goes (encrypted) through relays, but never exits. Basically you are entering a validation of the public key when you type in the .onion address, so nobody can tamper with the connection.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com