[guardian-dev] Orbot as DownloadManager

Nathan of Guardian nathan at guardianproject.info
Mon Jan 4 09:42:04 EST 2016


On Sat, Jan 2, 2016, at 06:18 PM, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> 
> Nathan of Guardian:
> > 
> > 
> > On Sat, Jan 2, 2016, at 03:15 PM, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> >>
> >> Android provides the nice DownloadManager for handling regular file
> >> downloads in a robust way, but we can't set the proxy on it, so we can't
> >> use it over Tor.  I've been looking for separate DownloadManager
> >> replacement, and I just had an idea:  Orbot should also act as a
> >> DownloadManager service!
> >>
> >> I think we can do a classic Guardian Project move, and just copy the
> >> DownloadManager class, and use that as the API.
> >>
> > 
> > This fits with my desire to add OnionShare capabilities directly to
> > Orbot, as well. I wonder how deep that DownloadManager code goes. I know
> > the StoryMaker team implemented some similar features with resumeable
> > download support, which is essential for large files over Tor. I also
> > think we would want to add some extra confirmation so that apps couldn't
> > easily deanon a user by launching a Tor download with some unique
> > cookies tied to it.
> 
> An app can always just send a unique ID directly to some server for
> de-anon, so I don't really see the added threats from having a download
> manager.  Fixing the de-anon issue is pretty easy: just require each
> download in the DownloadManager to use its own circuit.  Or use a
> dedicated circuit per app.

True that!

-- 
  Nathan of Guardian
  nathan at guardianproject.info


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