Accessing Gmail over Tor

I used to frequently get the following message after logging in to
gmail (before they display the contents of the inbox).

"We've detected a problem with your cookie settings.

Enable cookies Make sure your cookies are enabled. To enable cookies, follow these browser-specific instructions.

Clear cache and cookies If you have cookies enabled but are still having trouble, clear your browser's cache and cookies.

I was able to overcome this problem by pressing "back" button or typing gmail.com on the browser.

I have enabled cookies and cleared cache Now it seems gmail has completely rejected Tor users. Now I cannot get to my inbox even after using the 2 methods stated above . Could you please advice how to overcome this problem.

The whole point of Tor is to anonymize you. Stop using Tor when signing into Gmail and that should fix your problem.

Stop using Tor when signing into Gmail and that should fix your problem.

Really???

WOW what a great advice.



It is the most stupid advice I have ever found.

He is using Tor because he WANTS to stay anonymous. It is his decision and choice. And he asked how to logging to the Gmail using this feature. He has been waiting for the help how to overcome this problem. Pretty simple isn't it?

Huh?
The rule of thumb: if you have nothing wise to say just say nothing.

I guess I still don't understand how you can be anonymous when you SIGN IN. Tor is designed to keep anonymous by blocking cookies, which is the very method used to stay signed in.

Tor is doing what it is designed to do (block any history so as to make you anonymous). Gmail needs SOME information to be saved to be able to keep you signed in.

Bottom line: they are mutually exclusive. It's one thing to remain anonymous on the Internet. It's quite something else to complain that you cannot be anonymous while giving your username and password.

If you have better advice, I'd love to hear it.

Hi folks,

I have the same issue.
I created this account using Tor and only sign into it through the Tor network, which means that it is a fairly anonymous email account. Tor does store cookies, it just deletes them at the end of the session and doesn't mix them with non-tor cookies. I have been using this account for over a year, and I do not believe Tor and Gmail to be mutually exclusive -- a few years ago, Gmail was known for being as open to internet security practices as services that feature that, like riseup.net.

I'm wondering if someone from Google can comment on whether this change to lock out Tor users is deliberate or not. If it's deliberate, that's fine, I can understand that Tor use messes with their information collection, which is one of the reasons why this service is free. I will simply switch to a different mail service, but I don't want to do this if the problem is an inadvertent one that Google might fix.

I haven't been able to access my account for several days now, and will wait another couple of days before switching. If anyone can shed a little light on this issue, or offer another workaround (I'd been doing the same things that above described), that would be wonderful. If not, then see you on riseup

I too have been having issues accessing Gmail when using TOR-enabled Firefox.

On several occasions I have been locked out of my account, even after correctly answering a so-called "security question".

So I hope this is not considered off-topic but...

When I raised the issue of Gmail blocking access to TOR users in a Google forum, I received the following as part of a reply to my post;

... How do you know you can trust Tor? Perhaps it belongs to big brother? Wouldn't that be a convenient place for the CIA or similar organisation to capture information about all the people who want to hide their identity? Pretty much like creating a honey-pot for hackers.

This got me to thinking and asking...

"How does the TOR project protect its users from "honey-pot" network access nodes that may be run by governmental agencies like the CIA, the NSA etc. etc. whose purpose is to track and monitor Internet users who seek anonymity for whatever reason?

I think in this is an important issue, given the recent revelations about US government spy programs (e.g. PRISM) that monitor electronic communications world-wide, including the Net.

If this has been answered elsewhere, I would be pleased to referred to that answer

"How does the TOR project protect its users from "honey-pot" network access nodes that may be run by governmental agencies like the CIA, the NSA etc. etc. whose purpose is to track and monitor Internet users who seek anonymity for whatever reason?

"timeless"

The short answer: it doesn't. More of that, it is commonly assumed, that Tor exit node ALWAYS read your traffic and even modifies it. So it's only your responsibility to use encrypted protocols and check certificates.

Even when accessing Gmail via https:// there is still a possibility for exit-node to perform MITM-attack, and if that node is run by government, your browser probably won't even display a warning message, because their "fake" certificate can also be signed by root authority like the real one. So you MUST check certificates manually.

And even that is useless, because PRISM has direct access to Gmail servers, and could read your mail there.