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Self-Hosting on the Dark Web

358 points · 118 comments · mooreds

  1. p4bl0 · · focus · HN ↗
    My personal website has been hosted on Tor for years. It's easy to do from your home even behind a NAT because it's an outgoing connection from your point of view (which also makes it a great way to expose local services even when you are behind a NAT and don't not have a static IP), and by design your personal IP is hidden from your visitors.

    I wrote about it in 2600 almost ten years ago (already?!). A copy of my article can be found here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pablorauzy.fr&#x2F;outreach&#x2F;2600&#x2F;how-to-run-a-tor-hidden-service.txt" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pablorauzy.fr&#x2F;outreach&#x2F;2600&#x2F;how-to-run-a-tor-hidden-...

    If you have an Onion copy of your website, don&#x27;t forget the Onion-Location http header which will automatically redirect Tor Browser users to the onion version of the website even if they visit it at the clear web address.

    If it interests people, I also have a follow up article about I2P: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pablorauzy.fr&#x2F;outreach&#x2F;2600&#x2F;how-to-run-an-i2p-hidden-service.txt" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pablorauzy.fr&#x2F;outreach&#x2F;2600&#x2F;how-to-run-an-i2p-hidden...

    1. jortizzz · · focus · HN ↗
      I had never heard of the Onion-Location header, thanks!
    2. 1vuio0pswjnm7 · · focus · HN ↗
      onion-location:

      <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pablo2httpff4vogufavlmbxw4jkgb3amnywex2xdnchpztkdu2luead.onion&#x2F;outreach&#x2F;2600&#x2F;how-to-run-an-i2p-hidden-service.txt" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;pablo2httpff4vogufavlmbxw4jkgb3amnywex2xdnchpztkdu2lu...

      And for the OP&#x27;s site

      onion-location:

      <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dhevt6e4rtgbtr3jh53xrpwmgtilkah6nyjujocsspssrsexc7omxhid.onion&#x2F;posts&#x2F;self-hosting-on-the-dark-web&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dhevt6e4rtgbtr3jh53xrpwmgtilkah6nyjujocsspssrsexc7omx...

      Question: Can the .onion sites withstand HN front page traffic

      1. p4bl0 · · focus · HN ↗
        A link in a comment is not the same as a front page link it terms of traffic, and when this link is a .onion, you probably divide at least by a few hundreds if not thousands the number of people who will click on it (even the few percents who have Tor Browser installed probably visit HN using their regular browser so visiting the link requires to open a new browser — or to change your proxy settings of you use Tor the old school way).

        I really believe the single threaded BusyBox httpd running on a low end mini PC in my bedroom will stand hosting my static web site without any trouble.

      2. 1vuio0pswjnm7 · · focus · HN ↗
        To rephrase the question, if a story with an .onion link appeared on the HN front page, could it withstand the traffic from HN users who understand how to access .onion sites

        NB. The question poses a hypothetical. No one is suggesting that HN allows stories (submissions) with .onion URLs or that .onion URLs would receive the same amount of traffic as &quot;clearnet&quot; ones

        For example, a NYT article using an .onion URL rather than a &quot;clearnet&quot; URL

        1. 1vuio0pswjnm7 · · focus · HN ↗
          NYT is probably a bad example. The only .onion site they have now is a secure drop
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