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Does PirateBrowser hide my IP address?

It uses Tor so the IP should be changed, but when I looked on What is my IP, I saw the same address as before.

Is there anybody who can explain it to me?

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migrated from stackoverflow.com Aug 11 '13 at 0:33

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You should read up on networking a bit. –  Jesus Ramos Aug 10 '13 at 23:48
Nothing hides your ip, it's required for internet connections to work. Now if you mean, does Pirate Browser use a proxy system to attempt to change the traffic source ip so the end server doesn't know it, that would be a more important question to ask. Proxy systems are not to be trusted as they can leak the local ip to the remote server. –  Fiasco Labs Aug 11 '13 at 0:44
@FiascoLabs The point of Tor is anonymous communication. It was called "The Onion Router" because "Onion Routing" refers to the layers of the encryption used. The original data, including its destination, are encrypted and re-encrypted multiple times, and sent through a virtual circuit ... Each relay decrypts a "layer" of encryption to reveal only the next relay in the circuit in order to pass the remaining encrypted data on to it. The final relay decrypts the last layer of encryption and sends the original data, without revealing or even knowing its sender, to the destination. –  ta.speot.is Aug 11 '13 at 1:02
@user2607447 - The sole reason this browser exists to get round websites from being blocked by service providers. It offers no privacy protection beyond that. The only reason it uses TOR is to accomplish this feat –  Ramhound Aug 11 '13 at 1:03
@ScottChamberlain where did you get kid C from? A is the start, B is the end. There could be any number of kids in the middle, all of which must have contact with the person before and after them in order to receive and pass the message; there must be a continuous, unbroken chain between the source and destination for a message to get passed (at least in computer networking). Yes, the point to Tor is to use a bunch of links in different countries and make it as difficult as possible for anyone to track, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Fiasco’s point is that someone must see your IP. –  Synetech Aug 11 '13 at 4:51
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1 Answer

Obviously, the Pirate Browser doesn't hide your IP address. Your IP address is going to be visible to your local ISP router and every router till you get to your first TOR node. This is the way that IP works. It has to have IP addresses in order to route traffic.

Once on the TOR network, the TOR routing system then practices a whole bunch of security by obscurity tricks and encryption till the traffic leaves the end node on the far side with the return address visible to the remote server hopefully being the one belonging to that TOR node.

So to answer your question, if the browser's TOR configuration is functioning properly and you're actually routing your request to whatismyip through TOR, whatismyip should be reporting the IP address of the last TOR node. Sounds like you need to hit the books and figure out if your Pirate Bay Browser is properly configured so it routes everything through TOR.

After all, the last kerfluffle concerting TOR was that the browser bundle that's supposed to make it easier to use had a security issue that allowed a kiddie porn torrorist to get caught.

Note: Per current interviews with the purveyors, Pirate Browser is not intended to provide anonymous or secure internet access. It's mostly there to browse websites with access restrictions that are easily evaded.

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Tor does not use "security by obscurity" concept. Tor is an open source project. The principle of Tor is well documented and the implementation is known. There is no obscurity there. Please see what is meant by "security through obscurity". | You are right that you cannot hide your IP address from your ISP but Tor can help you to hide it for example from the destinations you are connecting to through Tor. The other thing is that it is not always successful. –  pabouk Oct 2 '13 at 18:48
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