How does the new easy to use Tor support work?

[thejaytiesto]

I have read that with 0.12 even the biggest noob can enjoy privacy with Tor, you just have to open both programs at the same time (Bitcoin Core and also open a Tor Browser window).

My question is, do you need to open one before the other? Like, first you open Core wallet, then open Tor Browser window, or first Tor Browser window then Core wallet? or this this irrelevant

And when do you know the privacy has been established? I think Core Wallet should show some easy to see visual sign in the corner "Tor mode activated" or something cause I cant see nothing.

[jonnybravo0311]

From the release documentation:

Automatically use Tor hidden services

Starting with Tor version 0.2.7.1 it is possible, through Tor’s control socket API, to create and destroy ‘ephemeral’ hidden services programmatically. Bitcoin Core has been updated to make use of this.

This means that if Tor is running (and proper authorization is available), Bitcoin Core automatically creates a hidden service to listen on, without manual configuration. Bitcoin Core will also use Tor automatically to connect to other .onion nodes if the control socket can be successfully opened. This will positively affect the number of available .onion nodes and their usage.

This new feature is enabled by default if Bitcoin Core is listening, and a connection to Tor can be made. It can be configured with the -listenonion, -torcontrol and -torpassword settings. To show verbose debugging information, pass -debug=tor.

Link: https://bitcoin.org/en/release/v0.12.0#automatically-use-tor-hidden-services

[thejaytiesto]

So from what I read there it just means that you have to have Tor opened first, then open Core right?
I still say that there should be some sort of visual input on the wallet.
When "Tor mode" is enabled, there should be something that says it on the wallet. Maybe its not a good idea to do any transactions once you have enough people connected or something like that. Im not sure how it works cause I haven't used this much, but I used Tails once and it had a drawing of an onion and at first it was orange, (still not perfect connection) and you had to wait for it to become green, when onion icon was green then it was a perfect connection and it told you something like "you can open browser now". Maybe something like this applies to Bitcoin too? I dont know I havent used any of that in a long time, and I think with Bitcoin we should get some visual information about this.

[jonnybravo0311]

OK, here's a little bit more info for you

Ensure you've got your tor service running.  Also, ensure you've got a control port (typically 9051) and you've properly generated a hashed password for the control port, or you use cookie authentication (which I don't).

In your bitcoin.conf file put:

torpassword=YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE
debug=tor

That'll let you see some potentially useful logging information.

Now, when you start your bitcoin core you should see similar to this:

Code:

2016-02-27 22:01:18 torcontrol thread start
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Succesfully connected!
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Connected to Tor version 0.2.7.6
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Supported authentication method: HASHEDPASSWORD
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Using HASHEDPASSWORD authentication
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Authentication succesful
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: ADD_ONION succesful
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Got service ID SOME_SERVICE, advertizing service SOME_SERVICE.onion:8333

[Hui8]

I have read that with 0.12 even the biggest noob can enjoy privacy with Tor, you just have to open both programs at the same time (Bitcoin Core and also open a Tor Browser window).

My question is, do you need to open one before the other? Like, first you open Core wallet, then open Tor Browser window, or first Tor Browser window then Core wallet? or this this irrelevant

And when do you know the privacy has been established? I think Core Wallet should show some easy to see visual sign in the corner "Tor mode activated" or something cause I cant see nothing.

only with bitcoin core?
but there is a way to see the real ip of tx id? likewise from sender?

[achow101]

I have read that with 0.12 even the biggest noob can enjoy privacy with Tor, you just have to open both programs at the same time (Bitcoin Core and also open a Tor Browser window).

My question is, do you need to open one before the other? Like, first you open Core wallet, then open Tor Browser window, or first Tor Browser window then Core wallet? or this this irrelevant

And when do you know the privacy has been established? I think Core Wallet should show some easy to see visual sign in the corner "Tor mode activated" or something cause I cant see nothing.

only with bitcoin core?
but there is a way to see the real ip of tx id? likewise from sender?

It is not possible to see what IP sent a transaction. Transactions do not include IP information.

[thejaytiesto]

OK, here's a little bit more info for you

Ensure you've got your tor service running.  Also, ensure you've got a control port (typically 9051) and you've properly generated a hashed password for the control port, or you use cookie authentication (which I don't).

In your bitcoin.conf file put:

torpassword=YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE
debug=tor

That'll let you see some potentially useful logging information.

Now, when you start your bitcoin core you should see similar to this:

Code:

2016-02-27 22:01:18 torcontrol thread start
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Succesfully connected!
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Connected to Tor version 0.2.7.6
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Supported authentication method: HASHEDPASSWORD
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Using HASHEDPASSWORD authentication
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Authentication succesful
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: ADD_ONION succesful
2016-02-27 22:01:18 tor: Got service ID SOME_SERVICE, advertizing service SOME_SERVICE.onion:8333

So you have to do stuff? From what I've read, you just have to opened Tor browser and Bitcoin Core at the same time, then you are anonymous.
What you are saying is to see the log, or you have to do this to have your node run under Tor too?

[Goms]

So from what I read there it just means that you have to have Tor opened first, then open Core right?
I still say that there should be some sort of visual input on the wallet.
When "Tor mode" is enabled, there should be something that says it on the wallet. Maybe its not a good idea to do any transactions once you have enough people connected or something like that. Im not sure how it works cause I haven't used this much, but I used Tails once and it had a drawing of an onion and at first it was orange, (still not perfect connection) and you had to wait for it to become green, when onion icon was green then it was a perfect connection and it told you something like "you can open browser now". Maybe something like this applies to Bitcoin too? I dont know I havent used any of that in a long time, and I think with Bitcoin we should get some visual information about this.

Tor browser is very good at hiding your ip, but since Core does not show "Tor mode" I think it's best to just assume that it is in Tor mode once you open Tor.

[Reaper301]

Isnt it going to anon entire traffic from the system, instead of only one application ( browser)

[jonnybravo0311]

Just running tor doesn't mean anything.  If you want Bitcoin to connect to tor, you have to open up the control port (typically 9051).  Depending on how you configure tor to validate - using a hashed password as I provided earlier in the thread or cookie authentication - will determine how the bitcoin core will attempt to connect.  If you have tor successfully configured and running, when you launch the core software, it will automatically create a hidden service and broadcast that.

To answer the other questions, no just running tor does not mean that suddenly everything is anonymized.  If you want your web traffic to be, for example, you have to point your web browser to the tor proxy you're running.  The default port is 9050.  If you want to have hidden tor services, then you need to create those.