was using tails at a cafe that blocks all videos (for some reason) i used a bridge (the easy default one) went to invidious but no videos worked because of the network. everything else on the site worked. does it know the contents of the page despite tor? (im not using a work or school given device i am using framework)
(i also have an unsafe home network and have to use a google wireless access point. also have someone who has a virus. (we dont share the same device just same network) i cant remove it because i get scolded for messing with her stuff and spying on her (??? yes the virus is spyware the irony lol))
(also any qubes specific advice would help since i wont be using tails as my daily driver anymore since i learned its not for that. also not a fan of the gimmicks but thats just me.)
Your definition of “unsafe network” is unclear and seems a bit broad. You should probably try to be more specific about what makes a network unsafe to you (public? actively malicious? shared with malicious users?) and what exactly you’re hoping for Tor to “negate”. That said, I will try to answer with some assumptions.
Assuming “it” refers to the cafe, no. Unless the cafe has discovered some exploit and decided to use it on customers. Seems like a lot of effort for a cafe, though. I think you can pretty safely assume the answer is no.
If “it” refers to the bridge, I believe the answer is also no.
If “it” refers to something else, please clarify.
Assuming your concern is that sharing a network with a compromised (and thus malicious) user means they can see the websites you are visiting, the answer is also no, they can’t, assuming the malware stays on their device and doesn’t know some secret exploit. However, they most likely can determine where you are. Tor will not stop the malware from spreading to your device. If it does, then the malware can undermine pretty much everything about Tor.
If you are worried about people knowing you are using Tor at all, you can use Tor + VPN (which would still allow your VPN provider to see that you are using Tor, but the cafe would just see that you are using a VPN) or just a VPN (which should be plenty if the cafe is all you’re worried about).
I don’t see how your network would’ve blocked anything. YouTube frontends like Invidious regularly have issues like this. I’d just retry different instances and their various backends (if available) at different times. Assuming you weren’t proxying videos through the instance, it’s also possible YouTube is blocking or limiting Tor traffic so retrying via a VPN instead of Tor is worthwhile.
I appreciate this type of information and would sure like to see them adding a VPN (trusted of course) to see how adding a VPN would be viewed along the traffic route.
thanks for the info i think i understand a bit but i didnt understand the third paragraph does tor and/or linux protect from a compromised network? im getting mixed signals
Protect what from what aspect of a compromised network is the question. As long as your device remains uncompromised, Tor hides which website you visit, data sent to that website, and data received from that website. By virtue of your network being compromised, however, Tor may be unable to protect information such as your location (as determined by your IP address).
What Tor does not do is protect your device from becoming compromised. That is not its job. Your operating system (which may be Linux-based) has measures in place to protect your device from this, but there are no guarantees that those measures will be enough, otherwise no one would have malware on their machines. It is probably true that the malware on the other persons device is not sophisticated enough to spread to your device just by sharing a network, but it certainly may not be true, especially if the malware is a Remote Access Trojan.