How to download over Tor with Mac?

Question

I just installed Tor on my Mac and started browsing around the deep web, but when I tried to download something it said that a non-anonymous program would have to be used to download.

How can I download files with Tor and remain anonymous? I am sort of a newbie at this, so please explain it in a way that anyone will understand, thanks.

PS: please don't say, "get Windows or Linux!" obviously that would be the easy thing, and when I get some money up I am getting a spare computer for Linux. So please just answer about Mac.

Answer 1

Tor is not meant for downloading large files. It's meant for anonymity. The nature of the network is such that if a bunch of people downloaded large files, it would slow to an utter crawl.



And there's nothing of value to find on the deep web unless you're looking for something illegal. I seriously hope you don't do that.



Okey Dokey, there's the theory and there's the practice. Tor is pretty darned secure in keeping you anonymous, although I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Feds have their own entry/exit/relay nodes all over the place. The bottom line is that there is a LOT of illegal content on onion sites. I haven't been into the Tor network, but it's not like that's a big secret. Sure, crooks can use other methods, but Tor is relatively easy and relatively secure, so a lot of people are going to use it.

Answer 2

https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-doc-osx.html.en



Step Two: Configure your applications to use Tor



After installing, you need to configure your applications to use them. The first step is to set up web browsing.



You should use Tor with Firefox and Torbutton, for best safety. Torbutton was installed for you. Click on the red "Tor Disabled" toggle button to turn Tor on, and you're all set:



Step Three: Make sure it's working



Next, you should try using your browser with Tor and make sure that your IP address is being anonymized. Click on the Tor detector and see whether it thinks you're using Tor or not. (If that site is down, see this FAQ entry for more suggestions on how to test your Tor.)



If you have a personal firewall that limits your computer's ability to connect to itself, be sure to allow connections from your local applications to local port 8118 and port 9050. If your firewall blocks outgoing connections, punch a hole so it can connect to at least TCP ports 80 and 443, and then see this FAQ entry.



If it's still not working, look at this FAQ entry for hints.



Once it's working, learn more about what Tor does and does not offer.

Answer 3

Doesn't Tor enable criminals to do bad things?

Criminals can already do bad things. Since they're willing to break laws, they already have lots of options available that provide better privacy than Tor provides. They can steal cell phones, use them, and throw them in a ditch; they can crack into computers in Korea or Brazil and use them to launch abusive activities; they can use spyware, viruses, and other techniques to take control of literally millions of Windows machines around the world.



Tor aims to provide protection for ordinary people who want to follow the law. Only criminals have privacy right now, and we need to fix that.



Some advocates of anonymity explain that it's just a tradeoff — accepting the bad uses for the good ones — but there's more to it than that. Criminals and other bad people have the motivation to learn how to get good anonymity, and many have the motivation to pay well to achieve it. Being able to steal and reuse the identities of innocent victims (identify theft) makes it even easier. Normal people, on the other hand, don't have the time or money to spend figuring out how to get privacy online. This is the worst of all possible worlds.



So yes, criminals could in theory use Tor, but they already have better options, and it seems unlikely that taking Tor away from the world will stop them from doing their bad things. At the same time, Tor and other privacy measures can fight identity theft, physical crimes like stalking, and so on.

Answer 4

Tor is good but obsolete, you may want to go with I2P http://how-to.linuxcareer.com/i2p-anonymity-for-the-masses .

Answer 5

Um, is this a computer security issue? No, so go ask somewhere else...