I have been using the Tor privacy network for quite some time now and I really appreciate the anonymity it allows me. It is very easy to setup on Ubuntu systems and basically offers you the freedom to surf and chat anonymously. No more tracking by marketers or wondering if someone can find you based on your IP. Of course always remember to use your powers of invisibility for good! Here you can find out more about the Tor Network.

  1. sudo aptitude install tor
  2. sudo vim /etc/tor/torrc
  3. sudo vim /etc/privoxy/config
  4. comment out: “logfile logfile” and “jarfile jarfile”
  5. find: listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118
  6. add (on next line): forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 . (including the period)
  7. sudo /etc/init.d/tor restart && sudo /etc/init.d/privoxy restart
  8. configure your network to now use Tor and Privoxy.

That is a pretty quick setup for getting the engine to work, now to actually use it. This can be used globally if set in your network proxy config (System > Preferences > Network Proxy) or individually by program that allows proxy configuration.

Firefox Setup / Global Network Proxy Settings:

  1. Edit > Preferences > Advanced > “Connection”
  2. HTTP and SSL Proxy: localhost: 8118
  3. SOCKS Host: localhost 9050

Or for an even simpler method simply download the Tor Plugin for Firefox. It allows you to turn on / off the Tor proxy with a click of a button.

For gaim:

  1. Edit any account (Jabber, MSN, etc)
  2. “Advanced” Tab or “Proxy Settings” (depending on your version of gaim)
  3. Proxy Type: SOCKS 5
  4. Host: 127.0.0.1
  5. Port: 9050
  6. Done

For IRC (freenode) over gaim:

  1. Edit your IRC account settings
  2. change “irc.freenode.net” to: mejokbp2brhw4omd.onion
  3. “Advanced” Tab or “Proxy Settings” (depending on your version of gaim)
  4. Proxy Type: SOCKS 5
  5. Host: 127.0.0.1
  6. Port: 9050

Enjoy using the Tor Privacy network. If you enjoy it, consider hosting another private node on the network to expand its reach and bandwidth. It is very easy to setup (outside of the scope of this tutorial) and you can limit the bandwidth available. Those instructions (hopefully) coming soon.

If this site has been useful, please consider participating in the Fundraiser.

Other Points of Interest

  • No Related Post

Comments

11 Responses to “How to install Tor & Privoxy : (K)Ubuntu (6.06 / 6.10)”

  1. roni on January 18th, 2007 4:08 am

    i followed ur tutorial but i still got a problem..when i run tail i get:

    Jan 18 11:36:46.995 [notice] Tor 0.1.0.16 opening new log file.
    Jan 18 11:36:46.996 [notice] Initialized libevent version 1.1a using method epoll
    Jan 18 11:36:46.997 [warn] connection_create_listener(): Could not bind to port 9050: Cannot assign requested address
    Jan 18 11:36:46.997 [err] options_act(): Failed to bind one of the listener ports.
    Jan 18 11:36:46.997 [err] init_from_config(): Acting on config options left us in a broken state. Dying.

  2. Ubuntu Tutorials on January 19th, 2007 11:03 am

    roni - are you still having this issue? Let me know or email me (see contact page) for more help. I haven’t seen that error before but I’m sure we can get it resolved.

  3. itchyworm on February 8th, 2007 4:58 am

    how does one test if it’s working? i used edgy, installed tor and privoxy, checked my netstat -a, but some sites are still blocked. unless tor doesn’t work with sites using ip addresses in their URLs?

  4. unknownkadath on February 21st, 2007 10:10 pm

    Thanks for the help. My Ubuntu 6.06 LTS is nicely torrified now. ^_^

  5. jimmy on June 16th, 2007 4:17 am

    please help,
    when i open tor.exe to install it i got this message:

    Jun 16 15:19:01.828 [notice] Tor v0.1.1.23. This is experimental software. Do no
    t rely on it for strong anonymity.
    Jun 16 15:19:01.859 [notice] Configuration file “C:\Documents and Settings\Sumer
    ian Francis\Application Data\tor\torrc” not present, using reasonable defaults.
    Jun 16 15:19:01.859 [notice] Initialized libevent version 1.1a+imweasel using me
    thod win32. Good.
    Jun 16 15:19:01.859 [notice] connection_create_listener(): Opening Socks listene
    r on 127.0.0.1:9050
    Jun 16 15:19:02.515 [notice] I learned some more directory information, but not
    enough to build a circuit.

  6. liam on October 1st, 2007 2:44 pm

    That worked a treat, had it up and running in no time. Many thanks.

  7. Kenny Pipitone on October 1st, 2007 10:51 pm

    I put in the first command line and got this back:

    E: Type ‘“deb’ is not known on line 37 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list
    E: Type ‘“deb’ is not known on line 37 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list
    E: The list of sources could not be read.

  8. Alberto on November 14th, 2007 10:17 am

    Hi!
    i’m so confused about using Privoxy

    I follow all the steps but every time i enable Tor i got this message

    ” This is Privoxy 3.0.3 on localhost (127.0.0.1), port 8118, enabled

    No such domain
    bla bla bla bla…”

    How can i get privoxy and tor working?

  9. plastik on February 19th, 2008 12:21 am

    very useful information. Thanks a lot.

  10. Hameedullah Khan on August 5th, 2008 8:58 pm

    Thanks,

    But you should have mentioned that tor is socks.

    But never mind its working fine now.

  11. izlekop on October 19th, 2008 1:36 am

    very useful information. Thanks a lot.

Leave a Comment




    Subscribe to the RSS feed!


    subscribe to the ubuntu tutorials RSS feed

    Ubuntu Tutorials Fundraiser


    Please Donate to
    Server Improvement

    Target amount: USD1,000.00
    Total Donations: USD255.00
    Amount Needed: USD745.00

    Thank you for your support!

    Click to Donate

    Polls



  • Blogroll

  • Ads by Google