Not only is BTC hash rate spiking....so is TOR's network. But why?

[Singlebyte]

Tor usage doubles in under a week, and no one knows why?


http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/08/tor-usage-doubles-in-under-a-week-and-no-one-knows-why/

Maybe ASICs!   

[jackjack]

Botnet or

Others on the Tor list have suggested that it’s a spike from Russia as a result of a newly passed “anti-piracy” law.

[Singlebyte]

Botnet or

Others on the Tor list have suggested that it’s a spike from Russia as a result of a newly passed “anti-piracy” law.

I wouldn't think Russia could "double" the entire world's TOR usage in just a week.  My best guess would be the NSA has something to do with it.

[jackjack]

Wouldn't the NSA be more discrete?

[Singlebyte]

Wouldn't the NSA be more discrete?

Occam's Razor



-EDIT- Additional Content

Occam's Razor

"If you have two theories that both explain the observed facts, then you should use the simplest until more evidence comes along"


I would think it is more plausible that one entity (NSA) was able to produce this spike rather than an entire country like Russia doing it all at once.  NSA could just simply "throw a switch" and begin archiving every TOR produced traffic packet.  I do not think the NSA cares at this point in the game if they are noticed.  Although they might not of even considered the traffic was being monitored.

It will be interesting to see what other theories people post here!  

-EDIT 2-

This web posting suggest 3 things;

1. Piratebay annon browser downloads
2. Botnets
3. NSA spying causing privacy fear

http://news.techworld.com/security/3466140/tor-traffic-doubles-in-week-reach-highest-ever-level/

[Lauda]

Botnet or

Others on the Tor list have suggested that it’s a spike from Russia as a result of a newly passed “anti-piracy” law.

I wouldn't think Russia could "double" the entire world's TOR usage in just a week.  My best guess would be the NSA has something to do with it.

600 000 users is a problem for Russia? I don't think so.
It's possible.

[skull88]

population of Russia: 143,400,000
TOR users before spike: 600,000
After spike: 1,250,000

Would be possible but if we look at the top 10 countries for the last week:

United States    141816 (12,70 %)
Brazil    76416 (6,84 %)
Germany    75843 (6,79 %)
France    68813 (6,16 %)
Italy    55750 (4,99 %)
Spain    51805 (4,64 %)
United Kingdom    33899 (3,04 %)
Argentina    33136 (2,97 %)
Poland    30838 (2,76 %)
Russia    29816 (2,67 %)

Russia only has 29816 instead of 650,000+ users 

[Lauda]

population of Russia: 143,400,000
TOR users before spike: 600,000
After spike: 1,250,000

Would be possible but if we look at the top 10 countries for the last week:

United States    141816 (12,70 %)
Brazil    76416 (6,84 %)
Germany    75843 (6,79 %)
France    68813 (6,16 %)
Italy    55750 (4,99 %)
Spain    51805 (4,64 %)
United Kingdom    33899 (3,04 %)
Argentina    33136 (2,97 %)
Poland    30838 (2,76 %)
Russia    29816 (2,67 %)

Russia only has 29816 instead of 650,000+ users 

Hmm I don't know.. botnet maybe?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

population of Russia: 143,400,000
TOR users before spike: 600,000
After spike: 1,250,000

Would be possible but if we look at the top 10 countries for the last week:

United States    141816 (12,70 %)
Brazil    76416 (6,84 %)
Germany    75843 (6,79 %)
France    68813 (6,16 %)
Italy    55750 (4,99 %)
Spain    51805 (4,64 %)
United Kingdom    33899 (3,04 %)
Argentina    33136 (2,97 %)
Poland    30838 (2,76 %)
Russia    29816 (2,67 %)

Russia only has 29816 instead of 650,000+ users  

If THAT building is completed in Utah, I would say that network is getting mirrored somehow, explaining the almost double usage.

EDIT: Maybe I just confirmed my guess: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center

The UDC is expected to store Internet data as well as phone records from the controversial NSA call database when it opens in 2013.

What better way to test the new facility than with the Tor network, with somehow a glitch is causing the double effect via the stored mirroring.

[Kluge]

Almost definitely PirateBrowser.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57598287-83/pirate-bays-censor-thwarting-browser-snags-100000-users/

(note that was from the 13th)

[jackjack]

Almost definitely PirateBrowser.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57598287-83/pirate-bays-censor-thwarting-browser-snags-100000-users/

(note that was from the 13th)

Likely
What's the difference between PirateBrowser and the Tor Browser Bundle?

[b!z]

new interest because of NSA, prism etc.? more people concerned about privacy now?

[Kluge]

Almost definitely PirateBrowser.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57598287-83/pirate-bays-censor-thwarting-browser-snags-100000-users/

(note that was from the 13th)

Likely
What's the difference between PirateBrowser and the Tor Browser Bundle?

PirateBrowser is not "privacy-secure." It doesn't take measures to hide your identity. Your IP address, for example, is visible. It exists solely to access blocked sites, but you certainly wouldn't want to use this for anything sensitive. For this tradeoff, traffic isn't bouncing around nodes as much like with the standard Tor FF browser, which results in a much faster browsing experience, and lower strain on the Tor network.

(allegedly -- I'm just going off articles I read)

[Lauda]

new interest because of NSA, prism etc.? more people concerned about privacy now?

But TOR is possibly an experiment on NSA so using it is a mistake right now. They possibly have infected it with some sort of malware or something similiar, they're tracking it anways.
It's better to find an VPN service and make a VPN chain (a vpn that doesn't keep logs though). The browser bundle from tpb is possiblythe reason why this is happening.