Category Archives: Tor Browser

Two Internet and Telephony Service Providers (ITSP) in the United Kingdom, the South Coast-based VoIP Unlimited and London-based Voipfone, got their services disrupted for several days after suffering a series of Massive DDoS attacks.

VoIP Unlimited claims that the attackers made a colossal ransom demand after the company sustained large-scale DDoS attacks. According to The Register, UK Comms Council has confirmed thatthese attacks were carried out by the infamous REvil ransomware gang [aka Sodinokibi, a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS)].

SEE: Someone published Conti ransomware gangs sensitive insider data online

The Council further added that other UK Session Initiation Protocol providers were targets of the REvil gang, which indicates that the group has launched a well-planned DDoS attack campaign against UK-based VoIP companies. Currently, it isnt clear if other ITSP services providers are affected too.

It is worth noting that in July 2021, the REvil ransomware group vanished due to mounting US pressure after the Kaseya attack. The recent DDoS attacks suggest that the REvil gang has been targeting companies unannounced since its official website accessible through the TOR browser is still down.

According to Voipfones status page, the companys SMS services, and inbound/outbound calls suffered outages as the company continuously received new DDoS attacks till Sep 3, 12:09 BST.

In a status update on Saturday, Sep 4, 13:34 BST, the company explained that the first attack took place on Monday and continued until Tuesday. The company further added that its services have been restored yet remained at risk of additional DDoS attacks.

Services are stable. Although, services remain at risk of further attacks. Our engineers continue to monitor closely across the weekend, the company said.

In a tweet on September 2nd, the company revealed dealing with extortion-based DDoS attacks from overseas criminals.

Were sorry for the disruption to our services. We are dealing with an extortion-based DDoS attack from overseas criminals. We are taking measures to overcome these attacks but we are obviously very limited in the information we can make public. Please bear with us.

Voipfone (@Voipfone) September 2, 2021

According to VoIP Unlimiteds MD, Mark Pillow, the attacks started on August 31, at around 2 p.m. BST. The threat actors launched an alarmingly large and sophisticated DDoS attack attached to a colossal ransom demand. Resultantly, some of the companys networks experienced a partial or complete loss of internet connectivity services.

However, those using its Ethernet and Broadband services remained unaffected. The company stated in an email that biz broadband services were live again after they resolved the problem yesterday, but they suspect the attackers to make a comeback anytime soon.

At the time of publishing this article, VoIP Unlimiteds status page showed its services have been restored.

According to the Registers report, both the attacks seem to be the work of the same group as these occurred over the Bank Holiday weekend, during which their networks were flooded with bogus traffic from thousands of compromised devices.

For those unaware of REvils activities; the group is known for targeting high-profile businesses and organizations.The same group was also behind the breach against the following companies:

1. Acer

2. Kaseya

3. Quanta

4. MasMovil

5. Sol Oriens

6. State Bank of Chile

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REvil gang hits UK ITSPs with series of extortion-based DDoS attacks - HackRead

Over the past 25 years, the name Google has become synonymous with the idea of searching for anything online.

In much the same way to Hoover means to use a vacuum cleaner, dictionaries have recognised to Google as meaning to undertake an online search using any available service.

Former competitors such as AltaVista and AskJeeves are long dead, and existing alternatives such as Bing and DuckDuckGo currently pose little threat to Googles dominance. But shifting our web searching habits to a single supplier has significant risks.

Google also dominates in the web browser market (almost two-thirds of browsers are Chrome) and web advertising (Google Ads has an estimated 29% share of all digital advertising in 2021). This combination of browser, search and advertising has drawn considerable interest from competition and antitrust regulators around the world.

Leaving aside the commercial interests, is Google actually delivering when we Google? Are the search results (which clearly influence the content we consume) giving us the answers we want?

More than 80% of Alphabets revenue comes from Google advertising. At the same time, around 85% of the worlds search engine activity goes through Google.

Clearly there is significant commercial advantage in selling advertising while at the same time controlling the results of most web searches undertaken around the globe.

This can be seen clearly in search results. Studies have shown internet users are less and less prepared to scroll down the page or spend less time on content below the fold (the limit of content on your screen). This makes the space at the top of the search results more and more valuable.

In the example below, you might have to scroll three screens down before you find actual search results rather than paid promotions.

While Google (and indeed many users) might argue that the results are still helpful and save time, its clear the design of the page and the prominence given to paid adverts will influence behaviour. All of this is reinforced by the use of a pay-per-click advertising model which is founded on enticing users to click on adverts.

Googles influence expands beyond web search results. More than 2 billion people use the Google-owned YouTube each month (just counting logged-in users), and it is often considered the number one platform for online advertising.

Although YouTube is as ubiquitous to video-sharing as Google is to search, YouTube users have an option to avoid ads: paying for a premium subscription. However, only a minuscule fraction of users take the paid option.

The complexity (and expectations) of search engines has increased over their lifetime, in line with our dependence on technology.

For example, someone trying to explore a tourist destination may be tempted to search What should I do to visit the Simpsons Gap.

The Google search result will show a number of results, but from the user perspective the information is distributed across multiple sites. To obtain the desired information users need to visit a number of websites.

Google is working on bringing this information together. The search engine now uses sophisticated natural language processing software called BERT, developed in 2018, that tries to identify the intention behind a search, rather than simply searching strings of text. AskJeeves tried something similar in 1997, but the technology is now more advanced.

BERT will soon be succeeded by MUM (Multitask Unified Model), which tries to go a step further and understand the context of a search and provide more refined answers. Google claims MUM may be 1000 times more powerful than BERT, and be able to provide the kind of advice a human expert might for questions without a direct answer.

Given the market share and influence Google has in our daily lives, it might seem impossible to think of alternatives. However, Google is not the only show in town. Microsofts Bing search engine has a modest level of popularity in the United States, although it will struggle to escape the Microsoft brand.

Another option that claims to be free from ads and ensure user privacy, DuckDuckGo, has seen a growing level of interest perhaps helped through association with the TOR browser project.

While Google may be dominating with its search engine service, it also covers artificial intelligence, healthcare, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing services, computing devices and a plethora of home automation devices. Even if we can move away from Googles grasp in our web browsing activities, there is a whole new range of future challenges for consumers on the horizon.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Google's ad ramp up is making it even harder to google what you're looking for - Startup Daily

Over the past 25 years, the name Google has become synonymous with the idea of searching for anything online. In much the same way to Hoover means to use a vacuum cleaner, dictionaries have recognised to Google as meaning to undertake an online search using any available service.

Former competitors such as AltaVista and AskJeeves are long dead, and existing alternatives such as Bing and DuckDuckGo currently pose little threat to Googles dominance. But shifting our web searching habits to a single supplier has significant risks.

Google also dominates in the web browser market (almost two-thirds of browsers are Chrome) and web advertising (Google Ads has an estimated 29% share of all digital advertising in 2021). This combination of browser, search and advertising has drawn considerable interest from competition and antitrust regulators around the world.

Leaving aside the commercial interests, is Google actually delivering when we Google? Are the search results (which clearly influence the content we consume) giving us the answers we want?

More than 80% of Alphabets revenue comes from Google advertising. At the same time, around 85% of the worlds search engine activity goes through Google.

Clearly there is significant commercial advantage in selling advertising while at the same time controlling the results of most web searches undertaken around the globe.

This can be seen clearly in search results. Studies have shown internet users are less and less prepared to scroll down the page or spend less time on content below the fold (the limit of content on your screen). This makes the space at the top of the search results more and more valuable.

In the example below, you might have to scroll three screens down before you find actual search results rather than paid promotions.

While Google (and indeed many users) might argue that the results are still helpful and save time, its clear the design of the page and the prominence given to paid adverts will influence behaviour. All of this is reinforced by the use of a pay-per-click advertising model which is founded on enticing users to click on adverts.

Googles influence expands beyond web search results. More than 2 billion people use the Google-owned YouTube each month (just counting logged-in users), and it is often considered the number one platform for online advertising.

Although YouTube is as ubiquitous to video-sharing as Google is to search, YouTube users have an option to avoid ads: paying for a premium subscription. However, only a minuscule fraction of users take the paid option.

The complexity (and expectations) of search engines has increased over their lifetime, in line with our dependence on technology.

For example, someone trying to explore a tourist destination may be tempted to search What should I do to visit the Simpsons Gap.

The Google search result will show a number of results, but from the user perspective the information is distributed across multiple sites. To obtain the desired information users need to visit a number of websites.

Google is working on bringing this information together. The search engine now uses sophisticated natural language processing software called BERT, developed in 2018, that tries to identify the intention behind a search, rather than simply searching strings of text. AskJeeves tried something similar in 1997, but the technology is now more advanced.

BERT will soon be succeeded by MUM (Multitask Unified Model), which tries to go a step further and understand the context of a search and provide more refined answers. Google claims MUM may be 1000 times more powerful than BERT, and be able to provide the kind of advice a human expert might for questions without a direct answer.

Given the market share and influence Google has in our daily lives, it might seem impossible to think of alternatives. However, Google is not the only show in town. Microsofts Bing search engine has a modest level of popularity in the United States, although it will struggle to escape the Microsoft brand.

Another option that claims to be free from ads and ensure user privacy, DuckDuckGo, has seen a growing level of interest - perhaps helped through association with the TOR browser project.

While Google may be dominating with its search engine service, it also covers artificial intelligence, healthcare, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing services, computing devices and a plethora of home automation devices. Even if we can move away from Googles grasp in our web browsing activities, there is a whole new range of future challenges for consumers on the horizon.

Read more: Robot take the wheel: Waymo has launched a self-driving taxi service

Go here to read the rest:
Is Google getting worse? Increased advertising and algorithm changes may make it harder to find what you're looking for - The Conversation AU

Bitcoin; the first cryptocurrency to ever be created. Considered to be the gold standard of crypto by many, its introduction in 2009 has forever changed the world of finance. Although still in its infancy, there is plenty of opportunity for growth.

As for now, let us focus on the origin of Bitcoin and what makes it great. In order to accomplish this, three key elements to both Bitcoin and crypto, in general, must be understood. The first of which is the origin of crypto, the second, blockchain technology, and lastly, its progression from the Silk Road.

Initially created in 2008 by what is presumed to be a group of unknowns using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin was later launched in 2009 to become the worlds first cryptocurrency. Though it is hard to pinpoint Bitcoins initial listing price, it started trading in 2010 from $0.0008 to $0.08. It is hard to imagine that a little over a decade later it is currently trading for upwards of $45,000.

Related Reading | What Is Bitcoin? Guide for the Most Popular Cryptocurrency

Despite all of this, Bitcoins greatest achievement comes with blockchain technology. It is important to note that all of crypto is reliant on blockchain technology. Without blockchain technology, there would be no crypto. The two must exist in unison if either hopes to function.

Simply put, blockchain technology is a database. The greatest takeaway, however, is transparency. Instead of a database that can be accessed by a select few, blockchain offers a massive database that can be viewed by any amount of users with ease. Now, this may seem alarming to many people, but in reality, transparency has plenty of positive features.

Just as of recently, over $660 million was stolen from one of the worlds biggest blockchain, Polygon. Considered to be the greatest crypto heist, one can imagine the amount of outrage in the crypto community. Thanks to blockchain technology, many of the coins stolen were frozen, and the hackers were quickly discovered. Now, most of the coins have been returned with more en route.

Related Reading | What is Blockchain Technology? How Secure is it?

In addition to transparency, blockchain offers a decentralized platform. Again, Bitcoin was the first to truly create a free market system, which can only be embodied within a decentralized platform. Simply put, no one owns Bitcoin or most other cryptos for that matter. This is due to the fact that Bitcoin cannot be created or destroyed. There is a limited supply, and that is all that there is. Now crypto can be be discovered via mining, but that is a separate matter.

To clarify, crypto transactions are transparent; everyone can see them. In addition, they are also decentralized, or, owned by no one other than those who have it.

As put by CoinDesk, Named after the historical network of trade routes that connected Europe and Asia, the Silk Road was an online black market founded in February 2011 by the pseudonymous Dread Pirate Roberts (later revealed to be Ross Ulbricht). Luckily, the silk road was later shut down in 2013 and Ross Ulbricht is now serving a life sentence in a penitentiary in Tucson, Arizona.

This may certainly come as an alarm to many, but it is important to note that Bitcoin was never intended to operate off of the Silk Road. Furthermore, dark wallets and the Tor browser were required to carry out transactions, making it difficult for the average trader to use or even be interested in using.

Thankfully, over $1 billion dollars has been seized as of last year from the Silk Road, much of which can be accredited to the implementation of blockchain technology. Transparency is the name of the game here. Because of the creation of Bitcoin, users are now able to trade coins on a wide variety of blockchains that provide transparency and security for all who use it.

Excerpt from:
Bitcoin And Its Origin: What Makes It Great - bitcoinist.com

Mozilla plans to release new versions of its Firefox web browser on Tuesday 10, 2021. The organization does so every 4-weeks on average, but tomorrow's release is special, as it is the base for a new ESR, Extended Support Release, version of the web browser.

Firefox ESR versions are maintained for a longer period compared to stable releases. One core difference is that they are released with a specific feature set that is not changed during the lifetime. Security updates and bug fixes are released, but features are not added usually until the next ESR version is released.

The last Firefox ESR version, Firefox 78 ESR, was released in June 2020, and it replaced Firefox 68 ESR in September 2020.

Two Firefox ESR branches are released side-by-side for a period of two or three releases usually, before the older one is not updated anymore; this gives organizations and home users enough testing and migration time.

Firefox 91 ESR won't replace Firefox 78 ESR right away. The latter will see two additional releases, Firefox 78.14 ESR and Firefox 78.15 ESR before it will be discontinued; this will happen in October 2021.

Firefox 91 ESR marks the beginning of a new base for extended support releases. The version will be supported for about a year.

Organizations and home users who are running the current ESR version may update their installations to the new version. The upgrade is a major one, considering that Firefox 91 includes all the functionality that Mozilla introduced since the release of Firefox 78 ESR.

Major changes include the new interface design that Mozilla rolled out recently, improved privacy protections, removed Adobe Flash support, support for new operating system versions, e.g. Mac OS Big Sur, and a lot more.

Here is a short list of changes that will be introduced in Firefox 91 ESR:

Firefox ESR is also the base of the Tor Browser. The developers of the Tor browser will update the browser to the new ESR version as well, eventually.

Firefox ESR users may want to test the new version before they upgrade existing installations and profiles. You could download and run the portable version of Firefox ESR from Portable Apps for testing; it does not interfere with the active installation, as it is portable, and you could import the Firefox profile from the installed version to the portable version to test it. Firefox ESR versions are not upgraded automatically to a new base version, this begins with the second release after the release of the new base version.

The new Firefox 91 base for ESR releases introduces significant changes to various features of the browser. Some features are removed, e.g. Flash support is gone for good and the interface redesign has removed some options, but there are also new features, such as improved privacy protections. Organizations who rely on these features lose another option, and need to look elsewhere, e.g. Pale Moon, for support.

Now You: Do you use the ESR version of Firefox?

Summary

Article Name

Firefox ESR 91: new ESR version will be released tomorrow

Description

A new Firefox ESR Extended Support Release version, Firefox 91 ESR, will be released this month. Find out what is new and changed in the release.

Author

Martin Brinkmann

Publisher

Ghacks Technology News

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Firefox ESR 91: new ESR version will be released tomorrow - Ghacks Technology News

Home > Piracy > Torrent Sites >

The Pirate Bay has moved to a new onion domain as the old one will cease to be supported by the official Tor client in a few weeks. The new v3 domain is more secure and the TPB-team encourages users to make the switch. Bookmarking the domain may be wise as well, as v3 onion domains have 56 characters.

Since then the site has burnt through more than a dozen domains, trying to evade seizures or other legal threats.

The torrent site eventually returned to the .org domain which remains the official home today. While there are hundreds of Pirate Bay proxies online, none of these are operated by the TPB-team.

The only official backup address for The Pirate Bay is its .onion domain. This is accessible over the Tor network, which is often referred to as the dark web. The Pirate Bay has had an onion domain for years but in recent weeks, many visitors have started to receive warnings.

The Pirate Bay has been using an old v2 .onion domain which is less secure. The latest version of the Tor browser started warning visitors to these domains last month and later this year they will stop resolving in the stable release of the official Tor client.

The switchover to the more secure v3 .onion domains has been in the works since 2015. The Pirate Bay is relatively late to the party, but it eventually made the change a few days ago.

With the tor project V2 Onion Services Deprecation many visitors are getting warnings visiting the Pirate Bay v2 onion address, TPB admin Moe notes, encouraging visitors to update their bookmarks for the new v3 address.

A bookmark will come in handy indeed, as v3 onion addresses are expanded to 56 characters which makes them pretty hard to memorize. The first nine letters of TPBs new onion domain are not really a challenge, but what follows is pretty random.

piratebayo3klnzokct3wt5yyxb2vpebbuyjl7m623iaxmqhsd52coid.onion

Some people may find it odd that The Pirate Bay didnt support the more secure v3 earlier. However, there wasnt much urgency for the torrent site, which doesnt really use the .onion domain for its cryptographic advantages.

The main advantage for The Pirate Bay is that a .onion domain cant be seized or blocked by outsiders unless the sites infrastructure is compromised. This makes it possible to easily circumvent site blocking measures.

There is not really much of a privacy advantage for people who use Pirate Bays .onion domain to download torrents. While ISPs may not be able to see what pages they visit, their residential IP address is still publicly broadcasted when files are downloading through a torrent client.

Read the original post:
The Pirate Bay Switches to a Brand New V3 Onion Domain - TorrentFreak

Contrary to what some people may think, Bitcoin works on a high level of transparency. All Bitcoin transactions occur on the blockchain network, permanently storing the data on a shared digital ledger. However, Bitcoin addresses are the only information accessible to users, showing the allocation of Bitcoins and where users have sent them. Those addresses are unique and privately generated by the wallets of every user.

The addresses can become tainted once you use them, based on the history of transactions. Bitcoin addresses cannot remain wholly untraceable since users have to reveal their identities when receiving goods or services ordered online. While blockchain is permanent, certain small things not currently traceable could become very easy to retrieve in the future. That is why Bitcoin has also outlined ways to protect your privacy when using Bitcoin.

One of the most effective ways to enhance Bitcoin transactions' privacy is through using a new address for every transaction. Doing so enables you to keep the transaction data isolated so that it would not be possible to link them to a particular address. That would mask your identity and transaction data on the blockchain network, making it almost impossible to trace.

As envisioned by Bitcoin founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, using multiple Bitcoin wallets for different transactions can also help secure your data and Bitcoins from the threats of hackers. For instance, if you already have a Bitcoin wallet with a crypto trading platform like british bitcoin profit , you should only reserve it for such transactions. If you want to send a payment for goods or services, you should generate another Bitcoin wallet for doing so.

The Bitcoin users who send money to your Bitcoin wallet cannot access the other Bitcoin addresses they own or the transactions conducted with them.

Even if you intend to receive public payments in full transparency, publishing your Bitcoin address on shared platforms is a bad idea. That could significantly jeopardize your privacy. If you have to do it, keep in mind that moving any funds through that address to any of your other Bitcoin addresses could taint the history of that public address. It would help if you were also careful not to publish any information about your Bitcoin transactions or payments, enabling someone to trace your identity.

Bitcoin works on a peer-to-peer network, which means others can listen to transaction relays and log your IP address. Full nodes usually handle transactions' relays of their users, just their own. As a result, it is easy to mistake Bitcoin nodes as the source of transactions that originate from totally different nodes. Masking your computer's IP address using tools like the Tor browser makes it impossible to log, keeping your personal and transaction data secure.

As Bitcoin's adoption continues to grow, we can expect many privacy protection improvements. For example, current efforts with the payment messages API will prevent tainting multiple Bitcoin addresses during payments. Bitcoin developers have expressed they might implement Bitcoin Core in other wallets in the future.

Bitcoin developers may also improve graphical user interfaces to ensure user-friendly features for requesting payment and discouraging the re-use of Bitcoin addresses. Research is also underway to develop other additional privacy features, such as linking together transactions from random users.

Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology have already proven their effectiveness in ensuring high-level privacy protection for all users. However, you should also keenly observe the above guidelines and adopt good practices to uphold the safety and security of your Bitcoin transactions.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)

Read the original:
Privacy Protection When Using Bitcoin - Devdiscourse

Representation of the darknet. Image by Ryan Compton / CC BY 3.0

There are nearly 1.5 million[ people across the world searching for the dark web, and research has revealed which dark web browsers people are searching for the most.

A dark web page is purposely hidden (it doesnt show up on search engines), where users can only gain access via certain browsers. It is estimated that 57 percent of dark web pages host illicit material.

Modern darknets use unique software to allow use of the distributed network. A report by Uswitch unveils that Tor is the most searched for dark web browser, with 910,730 searches for the platform in the past 12 months.In comparison, Subgraph OS is the most unknown browser, with just 3,080 people looking for it.

The Tor architecture provides two services anonymous browsing, and hosting of anonymous information exchanges through one piece of software, the so-called Tor Browser. The technology allows anybody to create a virtually untraceable server hosted within the Tor network, simply by adding two short lines of code to a short configuration file.

According to the review, the most searched-for dark web browsers:

In terms of where the most search activity happens, people in America are searching for the dark web the most, with 382,800 searches online, followed by India (251,400) and the UK (78,400). These countries are followed by, in descending order:

Within the US, New Yorkers, in particular, are most interested in the dark web (10,220).

In terms of Europe and the British Isles, in the UK, Londoners come out top at searching for the dark web (8,490). Whereas, in the European Union, Parisians are looking for the dark web the most (5,450).

As people search, most users. often search using keywords both in English and their native language, as translated content online can be limited.

In relation to elicit activity, the concerns are Internet Service Providers (ISPs) nor law-enforcement agencies have visibility into the hosted services location, or the identity of its operator.

Originally posted here:
Mysterious habits of dark web searchers revealed - Digital Journal

One in an occasional series, Under Fire, about Philadelphias unchecked gun violence.

Marvel Thornton-Cruz first carried a gun on the street at age 14.

I was young, said Thornton-Cruz, now 28. I just wanted to be cool. Pretty much most of my family was in the street.

By his mid-20s, Thornton-Cruz had been arrested and jailed several times, the last for drugs and for shooting someone, for which he served just over three years. He was paroled in December.

Thornton-Cruz grew up and still lives in the Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia. He said he has lost count of the friends and acquaintances whove been gunned down along the way. Three of his brothers have been fatally shot the first his 17-year-old brother when Thornton-Cruz was 14, about the time he started carrying a gun.

Each death rocked him but didnt overwhelm him, he said. At the end of the day, I know theyre in a better place, he said.

The Inquirer interviewed community organizers, academics, and more than two dozen young men impacted by gun violence in Philadelphia, most of whom didnt want to be quoted. The on-the-record accounts paint a portrait of a city where guns are an everyday fact of life in many areas, with the reasons young men carry them including showing off, personal protection, and retaliation.

Thornton-Cruz, however, said he has not rearmed himself since being paroled, and is trying to stay on the right side of the law by working as a landscaper for the city-funded Same Day Pay program, which specializes in hiring ex-offenders.

READ MORE: Philly gun arrests are on a record pace, but convictions drop under DA Krasner

That puts him outside the norm where hes from, Thornton-Cruz said, as he puffed on a cigarette during a break at a Southwest lot where he was working with his boss, Greg Thompson, to set up chairs and tables for a candidates forum.

Southwest is full of violence and guns. Its not one person youre gonna come across that dont own a gun. Especially if hes in the streets, said the father of two. He said he has no hope that gun violence will abate and the streets will become safer anytime soon.

These boys out here protecting themselves, he said, pointing to a key reason many young men have guns.

Those who do carry a gun illegally in Philadelphia currently face a greater risk of getting arrested. Thousands more people are being arrested three times the pace of 2017 but their chances of being convicted in court have fallen by nearly a quarter, according to an Inquirer analysis.

For those who do take their chances, Thornton-Cruz offered another motivation, one that had nothing to do with protection. You got some people out here with guns thats just carrying it for the show, carrying it to try to impress people and show off.

You see these celebrities. Were imitating off of what we see. We see Lil Wayne, we see NBA YoungBoy, we see DaBaby, we see Meek Mill portraying guns in their videos. What you think these young boys gonna do?

Referring to young men in his circumstances, he noted: Somebodys gonna die every day from gun violence, because this is how our mind is registered. We dont know no other way out. We have no structure.

READ MORE: In West Philly, best friends were shot over an Instagram feud they had nothing to do with

Thornton-Cruz has reasons for his pessimism.

Since 2015, more than 10,000 people have been shot in Philadelphia. Three out of four have been Black males, according to City of Philadelphia data analyzed by The Inquirer.

The median age for shooting victims is 26. More than 80% of homicide victims in Philadelphia last year were Black men, according to the data. The vast majority died from gunfire.

Black men and teens, ages 15 to 34, composed just 2% of the nations population but were fatalities in 37% of all gun homicides in 2019, a death rate 20 times higher than that of comparable white males, CDC data show.

There is a great deal of hopelessness, and most of all fear, said community activist Thompson, Thornton-Cruzs boss. These guys who are carrying these guns are walking around acting tough. But most of them are very afraid that their lives are going to be taken. And that is what is motivating them to take up arms against each other.

Kyle Williams is just 14, but he is already keenly aware of the fragility of life growing up in West Philadelphia.

You could get shot just walking down the street for anything. Somebody could just walk up to you and shoot you for no apparent reason. Thats why people carry guns, said Williams, a Discovery Charter School student.

Im from a lit neighborhood, he said, shrugging. We got beef with the 8th and the 3rd, he said, referring to 58th and 53rd Streets. A lot of people really want to kill me.

Although he does not have a gun, he said, hes not opposed to getting one. You must be 21 to carry a weapon in Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, you also must obtain a license to carry a firearm, whether concealed or open carry.

Even so, he explained, You cant settle beefs. They dont stop. I just stay away from it. As long as you dont touch me, I dont have to do something.

Even if someone isnt part of a crew and steers clear of street beefs, that sometimes is not enough protection from Philadelphias unchecked gun violence.

Thats the case with Dajuan Williams, a Northeast High School teen, who was 14 in September 2019 when he attended a peace rally with staff and fellow students of New Options More Opportunities (NOMO), a North Philadelphia-based youth mentoring organization. Some in the group then moved on to Marcus Foster Memorial Stadium on Straub Street between Germantown Avenue and 16th Street to watch a football game between Simon Gratz High School and Imhotep Institute Charter High School.

While waiting in line to buy his game ticket, Dajuan, who had never had trouble with the law or anyone else, heard the crackle of gunfire. He dropped his phone.

As I go to pick my phone up I see my shoe, and blood is coming. So thats when I started to feel real weak in my foot, and the next thing you know, I take my shoe off and my foot is drenched in blood.

READ MORE: As shootings in Philly have surged, law enforcement has failed to deliver justice

Dajuan, who is now 16, has no clue who shot him in the foot nor why the gunman opened fire. The inexplicable nature of the shooting, like so many others, is a hallmark of the citys gun-violence surge, he and others have observed.

I never thought that I would be shot, but then again, I live in Philadelphia, so anything can happen. A lot of people die every day. So, Im thankful I was shot where I was shot instead of somewhere else on my body, he said.

Whether youre five months or 50, they dont care who they shooting. They dont care why they shooting. They just shooting em, added Dajuan, who said friends ages 16 and 17 were killed by city gunfire between 2018 and 2020. One in cross fire, the other stemming from an argument, he said.

Like the victims in most of the citys shootings, the vast majority of the shooters are also Black men and teenage boys.

Keith Boyd, 16, a Simon Gratz High School student, said he shares a West Oak Lane home with his mother and a relative who was shot in the leg about five years ago and who regularly arms himself with a gun when he heads out the door.

Ive seen the gun before. Its a pistol. I dont think nothing of it. Its normal, said Boyd of the relatives weapon. He, nevertheless, says he wont buy a gun until he can do so legally. He has strong feelings about the citys gun violence.

I think its kind of sad and disappointing to see lives wasted, and a bit ironic because Black people have always been defending our civil rights going back in the Sixties, he said. Now were just killing each other and the white folks dont have to do it for us.

Daniel Hayes, 33, used to spend his time selling crack cocaine, starting at the age of 12, robbing people and gunning for street rivals, he said. His crimes put him in state and federal prison for nine years. In his most serious case, he and an accomplice pleaded guilty to shooting two drug rivals, both of whom survived.

I shot people, robbed people, hurt people, he admitted.

Now on parole until 2033, he said his business ventures keep him from thinking about returning to street life. He sells custom T-shirts he designs and facilitates what he calls Bloom Talk, nightly discussions on entrepreneurship, networking, and street crime on his Instagram page, CEO_Bloom_LLC. With themes like Shoot cameras, not guns, Bloom Talk typically attracts more than 100 mostly teens and young adults, he said.

He gives a grab bag of reasons as to why gun violence is increasing in some of the citys Black neighborhoods, including the shooters impulsiveness, pride, jealousy, drug-hazed minds, poor upbringing, and desire for revenge.

Pulling a trigger is easy It wasnt hard for me and it aint hard for them, he said. I tell the younger guys, basically, before you pull that trigger go lock yourself in the bathroom for 23 hours and see if you can bear it, he said. In prison, I seen young guys hang themselves.

Thompson, 60, the director of Philadelphia Peaceful Surrender, which helps fugitives turn themselves in to police, also works with Kingdom Care Reentry Network and Dont Fall Down in the Hood, two programs with goals of keeping teens out of prison.

He said he has never seen gun violence in Philadelphia so deadly.

Weve never seen it so bad where the shooter isnt really concerned with finding the actual target, theyre just concerned with inflicting pain and carnage on the other side, he said.

Were losing a sense of respect for human life, period. If the kids are outside, if the women are outside, it does not matter now. Were going to let the bullets fly. We are living in dangerous times.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said when the department identifies people who it believes are at risk of being shooters, or being shot, it sends their names to the citys Office of Violence Prevention.

This effort is part of the citys Roadmap to Safer Communities plan. Its built on the assertion by city officials that a small number of individuals contribute to most of the gun crimes in so-called hot spot neighborhoods 2% of known individuals accounting for 80% of the gun violence.

In passing along the names, Outlaw said, We say, Look, there needs to be some form of disruption here Whatever you do to intervene whether its through services, pulling what levers that exist, speaking with their families, jobs, or whatever it is that would connect with this very demographic that were talking about please do that.

This program is part of Mayor Jim Kenneys updated Roadmap to Safer Communities, which includes more funding for the citys five-year safety plan and for expanded summer services for youth. The plan states: Structural racism and inequality are at the root of gun violence. Unemployment, poverty, under-resourced schools, and lack of educational attainment remain drivers of violence.

Outlaw, the first Black woman to lead Philadelphias police force, said she believes progress is being made at reaching armed men and boys. I am starting to see communities galvanized and recognize that this is far more than just a police problem, this is far more than just a city problem, quite frankly, she said. Communities are stepping up and taking their neighborhoods back, theyre taking their blocks back. Theyre being far more vocal.

Pastor Carl Day, of the Culture Changing Christians church, with locations in North Philadelphia and Montclair, N.J., said the nature of the citys gun violence, so often fueled by retaliation and rage, is such that police cannot be expected to stop much of it, but merely respond to the aftermath.

We as a community have to hold each other accountable. We have to be more vocal about what we will and wont stand for in our communities, and we as Black men in Philadelphia need to support our communities by standing for civility and peace.

Kyle McLemore, youth mentor and job development coordinator for NOMO, the North Philly youth mentoring program, shares Days belief that payback motivates many slayings.

A lot of these things first started through robberies, they started through little beefs about this or that, he said. But now, once one gets killed, his friends feel they got to kill the other guys friends. So a lot of this violence is being fueled by vendettas that came out of materialism.

In the glut of shootings, some make headlines for the audaciousness of the gunmens brutality and proficiency.

Ameen Hurst, 16, was arrested in May and charged with four killings since December, including those of two men killed in a quadruple shooting in March in Overbrook Park, and the March death of Rodney Hargrove, 20, gunned down near the front gates of the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. Hargrove had just been released on bail. Hursts motives have not been made public by law enforcement officials.

In June 2020, Steven Williams, 26, was charged with killing four men between September 2018 to May 2019. Williams, according to prosecutors, allegedly was a well-paid hit man.

Such unbridled crime is why many of his friends arm themselves, said Santino Fanelli, 15, a Swenson Arts and Technology 10th grader from Point Breeze.

He said some of his friends have bought guns online using the Tor browser, which allows users to search the web anonymously. I seen people flash guns, and shoot them, too. I never got robbed, but I know people who have got robbed, said Fanelli, who added that he will wait until he is 21 to buy a gun legally.

Still, he said the city should think twice before trying to disarm young men who illegally possess guns. Its a question of survival for many, he said.

Dont take them away, because people need them. Its two sides to a story, to a coin. It depends where youre from. They are not bad to me because I live with them, he said of his armed friends. They are not criminals. They might be to you.

This spring, professors and specially trained students from four historically Black universities began interviewing Black males between the ages of 15 to 24 who have gun possession histories.

The researchers will probe to learn what influenced them to carry and use guns, with the end goal being to gather research and documentation that can be used to support communities and law enforcement to prevent and fight crime, said Dr. Johnny Rice II, a Coppin State University assistant professor of criminal justice, who is heading the research project at the Baltimore school.

I think this research is very significant because were not making assumptions, but were actually speaking to Black men that are most affected by this violence, he said. Some of them may be victims of this violence. Some of them may be perpetrators of this violence. Some of them may be from both categories.

The two-year study, funded by a $1 million grant from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, also includes research teams from Delaware State University in Dover, Jackson State University in Mississippi, and Texas Southern University in Houston.

The research follows more than a century of academic and governmental studies that attempted to understand the nexus between poverty, racism and violence in Black America from W.E.B. Du Bois seminal 1899 Philadelphia Negro study, to the 1968 Kerner Commission report ordered by President Lyndon B. Johnson. That report concluded that poverty and institutional racism were driving inner-city violence, creating a nation moving toward two societies, one black, one white separate and unequal.

Rice, a Baltimore native, said it has been well documented that some Black men who act out violently in their own communities do so when they feel a lack of respect respect theyve already been denied in the larger community.

Because he and his fellow researchers are coming from historically Black institutions, he hopes they will gain greater trust from their study subjects that leads to a deeper understanding about their plights.

We should do everything we can as a society to provide an off-ramp or a pathway to change to those young Black men who want to change, Rice said.

The tough question for the Black community, Rice posed, is: What to do with the young men who are capable of change but reject the pathway?

Thats where were going to have to have a difficult conversation as a community, because theyre the ones who are destroying the community.

Staff writer Dylan Purcell contributed to this article.

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For some Black men and teens in Philly, relying on guns has become commonplace - The Philadelphia Inquirer

If you want to keep your web browsing private, you can use the Incognito mode in Chrome, Private Browsing in Firefox, InPrivate mode in Microsoft Edge, and so on. While this will prevent other people who use your computer from seeing your browsing history, it doesn't prevent your ISP from monitoring the sites you are visiting. You might well want to for any number of reason browse the internet completely anonymously, and this is precisely what Tor Browser offers.

Standing for The Onion Router, Tor offers multiple levels of protection to ensure that your online activities, location and identity are kept entirely private. Here are the steps you need to follow in order to install and use Tor Browser.

Start by downloading and installing Tor Browser. Click Finish once the installation is complete, and Tor will launch for the first time. You'll be greeted by a settings dialog that is used to control how you connect to the Tor network.

In most cases you should be able to just click the Connect button, but if you connect to the internet through a proxy you will need to click the Configure button to enter your settings.

There will be a slight delay while Tor establishes a connection to the network via relays the program warns that the initial connection could take as long as several minutes but once this connection has been made, the Tor browser will launch ready for use.

Tor is based on the same code as Firefox, so if you have used Mozilla's web browser everything should seem fairly familiar. Even if you haven't used Firefox before, it should not take you long before you start to feel at home it's not so different from the likes of Edge, Chrome and Safari.

Before you get started, it's worth noting that using Tor Browser is a balancing act between privacy/security and web usability. By default, security is set to Standard although this is still far more secure than any other web browser.

If you would like to increase this, click the onion icon to the left of the address bar and select Security Settings. Use the Security Level slider to choose your preferred level of protection, bearing in mind the warnings that appear about the features that may stop working on the sites you visit.

In order to get the most from Tor, you need to change a few of your browsing habits the first of these is the search engine you use.

Rather than opting for the likes of Google and Bing, the recommendation is that you instead turn to Disconnect.me. This is a site that prevents search engines from tracking you online, and you can use it in conjunction with Bing, Yahoo or DuckDuckGo.

While we're on the subject of changing habits, you also need to avoid installing browser extensions, as these can leak private information.

As you browse the internet, the Tor browser helps to keep you secure by avoiding directly connecting to websites. Instead, your connection is bounced around between multiple nodes on the Tor network, with each jump featuring anonymizing.

This not only makes it all but impossible for a website to track who and where you are, it is also responsible for the slightly slow performance you will notice while browsing with Tor.

If you feel performance is unusually low or a page is no longer responding, you can start a new Tor circuit by clicking the hamburger icon and selecting the 'New Tor Circuit for this Site' option, which will force Tor to find a new route to the site.

The new circuit option only applies to the current active tab, and it may be that you want a more drastic privacy safety net. Click the hamburger icon and select 'New Identity', bearing in mind that this will close and restart Tor in order to obtain a new IP address.

When you connect to a site using Tor, you may notice that a popup appears warning you that a particular site is trying to do something that could potentially be used to track you. Just how often these messages appear will depend not only on the sites you visit, but also the privacy settings you have in place.

An important part of staying safe and anonymous online is ensuring that you use the HTTPS rather than HTTP versions of websites. So you don't have to remember to do this for every site you visit, Tor Browser comes with the HTTPS Everywhere extension installed by default. This will try to redirect you to the secure version of any website if it is available, but you should keep an eye on the address bar as an extra safeguard.

If you are connected to a secure site, you will see a green padlock icon. If this isn't present, click the 'i' icon for more information.

The most secure way to connect to the internet through Tor, however, is to visit .onion sites. These are also known as hidden Tor services, and they are inaccessible to search engines; to find them, you have to visit them directly.

To help you to find such sites, there are a number of .onion directories out there. These sites can only be accessed using Tor, but you do need to take care it's quite common to come across sites with illegal content, selling illegal products or promoting illegal activities.

If you want to take your privacy to the next level, you can connect to a VPN before starting the Tor browser. The VPN will not be able to see what youre doing in the Tor browser, and youll get the added benefit that no Tor node will be able to see your IP address. It will also prevent your network operators from even knowing that you are using Tor, which is helpful if the Tor Network happens to be blocked where you are.

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How to protect your privacy online with Tor Browser ...