Imagine Twitter trying to be an "anonymous" service when it spies and sells its data.

>requires js to work >requires your phone number >requires email >sell your data >allows sign up with google and apple >use cookies >bloat >have a onion address weird, it's almost like it's useless.

The zoomer bit was 100% accurate

When has Twitter ever created something that doesn't suck?

It's not for privacy, it's against censorship, by providing an onion service they can move the tor traffic from their site to an other instance. That way they have their main site protected from ddos while providing an alternative for tor users.

It’s a free VPN for Russian twitter users. While the anonymity it provides is bad, it probably works for most people. It’s pretty much the same for China and North Korea as far as I know. For large scale control over information, which is the intended effect, the few exceptions don’t really matter - if they don’t have resources to spread the information deemed harmful, they largely affect only their own opinions. It would be wasteful to spend resources on every individual - targeting only those who actively and effectively spread information, or inversely make the state look bad in foreign platforms for large audience, is more efficient use of resources. And those individuals were always a target, and considered a risk. For them, sharing information in twitter was always opening the potential of being identified by the government or government aligned mobs or individuals. For them the thing that has changed is the intensity of how much harder the government has focused on activists and journalists - not what platforms are blocked.

The "threat model" this is for is not to be private from bad actors it's just to be able to access twitter if it's blocked in russia through the tor network which is free and has workarounds for trying to block it unlike most vpns or proxys

as an extremely active user of twitter for the past 10 years, i can vouch: once twitter thinks you're sus, you are *required* to enter a phone number and if you dont your account will be suspended. even with a popular email service like gmail, outlook or icloud, twitter will randomly do this. there's no way around it, even on the clearnet and even if you email twitter.

5:58 Twitter - "Can we collect data about you using cookies" Kenny - "sure next" bamboozled

as a zoomer, I gotta say, you forgot to say "L bozo" in the intro lmao Pretty accurate tho

It's nice seeing Twitter try its best to cater more to its MAP audience.

"Why are they using HTTPS" Because they aren't trying to hide their location or ownership. The reason you don't want HTTPS on Tor is because once you have HTTPS, it's not a hidden service. Only the users are hidden at that point.

One thing to remember is that you can generally browse twitter without logging in. This fulfills the goals of giving access to non-Russian news sites which should allow more balanced information availablility in both Russia and to a lesser state Ukraine (where it is controlled by Russian forces) If you do log in, then you can still use twitter, but your ISP won't know that you are using it, only that you are using tor (or a bridge that pretends to be something else) Point is, it is optional... As to whether 'tor-fronted' (non-hidden onion services) services are useful, consider the alternatives: They could have used a full hidden service. This would mean for every circuit, they would be burning through twice as much bandwidth on the tor network as it would be building a circuit to the rendezvous point (RP) and then the user also building their own circuit to the RP. Since you know who is operating Twitter, this is kinda pointless. They could have just used their normal internet site. This would cut down the bandwidth requirements, but still opens up the request to deanonymisation attacks if you have malicious hops between your exit point and the twitter site. The benefit being that with tech like STS and TLS you can make sure downgrade and MITM attacks are more difficult. The option they have chosen is actually the best of both in many respects. By using an onion address they essentially remove the risk between the exit node and the site as essentially they run their own dedicated exit node. With alt-svc headers, you can also upgrade a normal request via an exit node to a site to a tor version if the site sends the correct headers. This has the awesome side-effect of keeping the cert valid as the browser found out about it from the actual site. EOTK (and also apps like onion balance) are great for running bigger services over tor as they reduce misconfiguration issues and allow more redundancy by being able to spread the load over more servers. This is great for reducing the ability for hackers to take a service offline and to cope with the inevitable failures that happen. medium.com/privacyguides/securing-services-with-tor-and-alt-svc-43ebf43dd5e2 -- good overview of some of the advantages of this option.

Twitter with the alphabet bois, dosent seem like a good idea

I hate the trend of creating new technologies without justification or a proper functionality like NFTs, Blockchain to an extent or now this, just goes to show it’s WOW factor and profit first and not actually society benefits.

5:57 Shouldn't a _tracking_ option not even be available on "Twitter for Tor"? What am I missing?

Ty for your updates. And ty for making it easy understandable for people who aren't the best with programming stuff

I have to give an explanation here why Twitter will tend to use HTTPS on dark web services here. It's NOT they aren't knowing TLS encryption isn't required to keep data transfers safe (ok maybe they are), but all modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox, etc) require a "secure context" (either localhost or HTTPS) to even access several JS web APIs vital for web development. For example, Twitter uses Service Worker to accelerate content loading, which is *only* accessible under an HTTPS context. Only if the browser vendors start to acknowledge dark web TLDs as in secure context can this requirement become optional. But still, avoid Twitter unless you know how to keep your real identity from it.

as a zoomer i have quite literally never heard anyone from my generation talk like this. but i know they exist and that bothers me

It would be useful somewhat if they let you browse without an account.

They are tracking a lot. The reason they want a phone number could be because of your (tor) ip address. And don't think you were successful just because you got a verification mail, sometimes it takes some time until you realise that they just banned your account after creating it.

The problem w/ a lot of those anonymous numbers like in the united states for example, is that verification services often categorize them as burner, and if a site using it finds that out, it'd refuse to let you use it. (like on Discord for example) So anonymous phone numbers likely aren't happening w/ Twitter. Of course you aren't using a VOIP number either, since that's even more likely to be blacklisted, or just plain not receive verification texts right.

That intro was fire💯💀💀 on goddd my man🤣😂😂💀🥶 u a real one fr fr

I'm literally blinded by how much this is glowing.

"does it slap or does it cap" i hate to admit that that's something i would say only HALF ironically

I'm so happy this autoplayed as I was getting back home, I heard that start and just started losing it cause I never though I would hear that string of words come out of your mouth

man I love your funny intros, keep it up!

I could feel you _physically_ cringing while doing the bit at the start. This is so baffling it just makes me laugh, because of course they'd do something dumb and you kid about Ruski net, but they've made piracy legal because of these recent events, so they're closer to Cuba and their underground network of people with a subscription service set up to get all the pirated media you choose each week or month. Pretty cool Anyhow, if someone wants to browse Twitter, like just look at stuff Nitter is it, even better if the client in question is an Onion service I guess

It’s so funny that disabling JavaScript fucks your TOR connection to Twitter.

As a resident Zoomer you nailed it id love to see some tutorials in the the zoomer voice

SHEEEESH that first bit was raw on god on god fr fr no cap he straight ballin

AFAIK it's not meant for anonimity (how do you anonimize something that requires an account to login anyway) but to give another way to reach Twitter to people in areas that block it

This glows brighter than my toilet bowl after a night of Taco Bell

Love the video your video editing skills have are way better now then when you first started (no offense)

yeah it's gonna be veeery private when they force you to make an account to see threads and then force you to put your phone number to your acct after a while...

one of the best and accurate intros I've ever seen in my life

My goodness, this intro was pure gold. Convinced me to like immediately

Question: If Russia's Internet is severed from the rest of the world, how would cryptocurrencies fare? Would blockchains be split into two incompatible ones? If one node can connect to the rest of the world would the rest update accordingly?

That intro makes me think you glow in the dark. Good content, as always.

You should always be using a separate browser and dedicated sock accounts while browsing Tor. I actually think that it's a great thing that Twitter is making a hidden service! I would say that the phone number requirement is pretty inconvenient at the very least (for American users). It would be interesting to see if you could use a third-party Twitter client that doesn't require you to run their JavaScript.

When I read the title I initially thought of The Onion News and I was extremely confused but I guess it also made me want to watch the video more

I guess today we found out a proper intro. Short, says the main topic of the video, straight to the point

"Twitter [...] It Sucks!" Self-explanatory.

That was the best intro I've ever heard no cap it was bussin bussin

Onion service from an international, private police state that is Twitter? Sign me up, chief!

Tor is blocked here in Russia. I live in major city, I can't speak for all of Russia, but at least for me it doesn't work, but when I connect with VPN it works immediately.

I'm a young man, and your snappy language is attracting me and my generation to your videos

In the UK pay-as-you-go SIM cards bought with cash would be anonymous, likewise pre-used unlocked mobiles. Just buy where there is no CCTV.

Knowing Twitter people, a lot of people are about to use it thinking they are anonymous on it and get nailed for CP charges.

“Sus it out” This kind of language is the root cause for the perpetual degradation of humanity

My god that zoomer bit was amazing! How do you get this power? I need to embarrass my younger brother!

I appreciate your insight. Anonymity really does not count if you have to give up your privacy. You will ultimately ruin your anonymity because of that. Privacy is a prerequisite to true anonymity.

That intro hurt me more than being 9 years old in the wildy and my textbox showing "A magical force stops you from moving"

The intro is truly a masterpiece

Wow, twice in one day? Great job Luke!

They should make a statlic web version of it. Loading things via JS is not very poggers in the first place.

You can still use prepaid sim cards from other countries in most countries that require registration of sim cards

I didn't think hearing Mental Outlaw say "sussy bakes" would be such a blessing

Another issue that is tangentially related to the topic at hand worth mentioning that I don't see brought up often enough is the matter of using a VPN, even one such as Mullvad, on any device that frequently phones home removes any and all anonymization that could have been otherwise acheived. Rerouting all traffic through a VPN on such devices will inherently also include telemetry data and the like, which is to say that there will always be personal data that could be correlated to that VPN session. This includes devices running Windows and, in particular, Android and Apple devices.

These intros just get better and better

That opening was amazing 🤣

SIM cards are still available buying anonymously for cash in Sweden, but I guess that'll change sometime soon...

I was not ready for that intro

best intro ive seen all year

if it makes no sense to use https when using tor, then why does tor automatically come with the https everywhere extension? Also, is there some sort of vulnerability of using https over tor, or is it just unnecessary?

Sites that require a phone number to log in are so annoying half the time it does not work and sometimes the account creation gets messed up and i can't use the phone number i used at my first attempt.

I think that intro just extended my brain damage

The opening bit, as a zoomer, felt too real. Especially the on God 😭 Except for the krakalaking, but I don't think you where serious with that. I wounder if we'll still use that lingo when we're 80... Though the lingo 'n' terminology goes in and out almost any day. My guess is that it comes from TikTok, but hell if I know, I removed that shit when I only meant to spend 15 minutes on there but spent an hour.

The amount of times a day I hear sus and on god is sad. This video highlighted that

the whole anouncement just reeked of corporate "how do you do fellow based users"

Their spooky ass service 👌. So where could I get those image of dale and CIA? 😂😂😂

👏😁 I loved the intro

I don't know about the whole Europe but when I went to Tesco last time they were selling prepaid sim cards don't know if they ask a name or something when buying one though

I bet all the 'MAPs' are going to use it

Anonymity is one thing but being able to load the page at all is a whole other story. Their goal never was and never will be anonymity but let's just appreciate the fact that they are making access to their service easier to people living in countries that like to restrict the internet.

I remember how mad I was back in February when they kept requesting my phone number after each attempt

Twitter should just get acquired by Apple. Tim Cook will take way better care of it, I'm sure.

love how you put 1984 as your birth year

awesome vids always

lmfaoooo the intro is so good

The intro was bussin hard fr fr no cap

Its the same for the clearnet. You might get a tweet out before they ask for your number, but its almost immediate.

In Denmark in Europe at least you can buy Simcards in normal stores that uses codes to add pre-paid amounts to the phone. Currently the law doesn't require that you register ANY id at all to get these, you just buy em and plug em into your phone and you're done. However like the rest of the world, we've been hit with several anti-privacy laws lately, so i wouldn't be surprised if soon it would be required to register your id to activate the simcards.

Lol love the intro

Since this was definitely created to allow access to uncensored content, as ironic as that is in the case of Twitter, or any big social media for that matter, would you even need to create an account in the first place?

Even if they didn't ask for a phone,with the kind of big data behaviour analysis they have they probably could deanonymise anyone that uses both the clear web version and the tor one right? I mean apparently you can fingerprint someone by the way they structure sentences for example

You can use twitter without connecting your phone number but you cant post/like/comment etc. And if you don't provide a phone number to them in a couple of days you will just get banned. This happened to me, decided to create a twitter account but backed out when they asked for my phone number. Fast-forward a couple months later when I actually needed an account for work and was provided a phone number. But for some reason I just couldn't connect it. Realized my account was banned, emailed them an appeal and it took them almost a year to process it. Twitter is just a burning pile of garbage and no wonder their onion service sucks.

In South Africa here's how to get an anonymous simcard: 1. Go to a town or city. 2. Go to the dozens of people handing them out like candy on almost every street for free. 3. Use it for a few weeks than repeat step 1 and 2.

I've also discovered that you cannot get a temporary, anonymous Chinese phone number either. Someone purchased a BlackShark 4s Pro phone and we are 100% unable to root it because of what is required to root it: The phone must be linked to a BlackShark account for at least a week. This BlackShark account ***requires*** that you have a Chinese phone number to receive a security code at. There is no way around this. Linking the phone to the account is necessary to get the code for `fastboot oem unlock`.

That intro's 🐐ed no 🧢

The zoomer but was more accurately a depiction of zoomer scene kids than regular zoomers.

love the intro rap

props to kenny for including a tldw in the description

This is the stupidest thing to happen in onionland since FaceBook's onionservice

Intro was perfect

Great video!

Some jurisdictions require you to link a phone number to your identity, though it's not "everywhere but US" like mentioned in the video. It's quite the opposite - the countries that do this practice are the minority, and definitely also not in EU.

That intro was no cap bussin

Twitter and privacy is like oil and water. And the oil is on fire.

I was genuinely happy for the first 20 seconds of the video