The French Government is considering a proposal to ban free and shared WiFi connections during a state of emergency, and block Tor permanently, reports Ars Technica. The proposals could be presented to parliament as early as January 2016. The legislatures are justifying the WiFi blocking by citing the difficulty faced in tracking people using public hotspots. The second proposal will make it illegal to access Tor networks within France, although it is not clear if the Ministry of Interior (France) will look to block the service as well. What is Tor? Tor is a free software that enables anonymous communication. It directs internet traffic through a free volunteer network concealing the user’s location. The routing is implemented by encrypting the data multiple times, including the destination IP address and sending it through randomly selected nodes of its network. The final node sends the original data to its destination without knowing the source IP address, thereby eliminating a single point at which the source and the destination can be revealed. However, due to all exit nodes of a Tor network being known, the entire network can be banned by blocking those IP ranges or specific servers. If Tor networks are banned, users using the network for legitimate purposes will suffer the most. There are other ways to encrypt and send data which won't be as simple blocking ToR nationwide, making this a pretty shortsighted move. Of course, since the Paris terrorist attack, it's not just Tor network that have come under attack. The EU…
