Comcast not cutting-off Tor users
16 Sep 2014
Comcast has been accused of telling its internet customers they would be cut-off from the service if they continued to use the web browser Tor. Some Tor web browser users had reported being threatened with termination for use of the browser that many believed was being used for criminal activity.
The Washington Post reported on 14 September, that the unverified reports led to some agitation among customers.
Tor is a web browser that allows users to surf the net anonymously. It does not track users' online activity, nor does it store the sites that users visit online. The browser is not used only by criminals, but also by many upright citizens who would like their right to privacy.
According to unverified Yahoo News reports, Comcast called a customer and said they would be in danger of being disconnected if they did not stop using Tor. The person who was not named reportedly called Comcast back to make sure the call was legitimate and was told by customer service that Comcast did not like its customers to use Tor and confirmed they could be disconnected.
However, Comcast said in a blog post: "We have no policy against Tor, or any other browser or software. Customers are free to use their Xfinity Internet service to visit any website, use any app, and so forth."
Meanwhile, The Washington Post's Brian Fung who covers technology said in a blog post, that according to a report on a web site known as Deep Dot Web, Comcast had "declared war" on customers who used Tor and was threatening to disconnect their service over a perfectly legitimate activity.
According to Fung, users need not buy what Deep Dot Web was selling as not only had Comcast denied the accusations, but Tor users too had rejected the claims.
For users who had never used Tor, the service had one basic function - to hide users' browsing habits from prying eyes. When using the Tor browser - a specially modified version of Firefox, users' traffic does not go directly to its destination, rather it gets bounced across multiple intermediaries.
''When it comes out the other side and continues on, it's almost impossible to tell where (and from whom) the traffic originated. Not even the NSA has figured out how to crack the core Tor infrastructure (as far as we know.)''
