A website was able to determine my location while using Tails

Support Tor Browser Desktop
1

Hi,

I need some help using Tor browser correctly.

I just tried Tails OS. Tried using its Tor browser. Fresh install of the system according to instructions, verified integrity. Loaded the system. Connected to Tor, opened Tor browser. Went to https://whatismyipaddress.com/ to check my IP. The IP did change but… the website still was able to pinpoint my actual country I was browsing from - even though the Tor exit node wasn’t in my country.

When I tried the same location detection technique from my Mac using Proton VPN, the website reported the location as the one of my Proton VPN server, not my actual one. So it worked with Proton.

So somehow it was able to know my location even if I was using Tor. How is it possible? Am I doing something wrong?

I am using Tails OS 5.21, and I tried using the Tor browser with the highest and standard levels of security.

2

The comment about that line was for a test only to see if the exitnode is Switzerland. Remove it after testing.

3

The more important question is did it pick up your real IP address and I bet the answer is NO. It was a fluke because your actual country hosts exit nodes and chance made Tor select one.

Stick this line in your torrc file and see.

ExitNodes {ch}

4

Not a fluke. Consistently producing my real country at all times, not a single time I changed my chain was it producing a different country.

5

I don’t know what’s going on, but I just want to give you some data points to show that you might not be the only one experiencing something unexpected.

I am using Tor on Windows. When I went to the link you provided, it took a while, but as soon as it shows the Tor link symbol, I pressed on it and watched. The first link it showed an exit node, sometimes with IPv4 only, sometimes with IPv6, and sometimes just IPv6. When the webpage is getting populated, it picked up the exit node’s IP of this link, but meanwhile the Tor’s link popup which I hadn’t closed, started switching to another link, sometimes more than once. So when the page was completely populated, I ended up with an IP of the first exit node I saw, but not the one the the Tor’s link page finally showed.

Like I said, I don’t know what’s going on, but it appears the final link’s popup info may not jibe with what the page detects. In my case, though, it’s never in my locality, and they do switch around.

6

But is it your ISP assigned IP address? Did you try that ExitNodes {ch} in torrc. You can use {nl} or {de} if you like or any valid country which has exit nodes.
If I read my Tor theory properly, there is no way the exit node can know the IP of your machine.
Tor guarantees anonymity but not necessarily outside your country.
Windows or Linux

7

Suggestion: Clear your cookies. Open the website again and hit Ctrl + Shift + L multiple times - your location should change eventually…