I’m trying to access this website using Tor Browser, but most of the time it fails to load. I usually have to click “New Identity” many times until I find a circuit that works and lets me connect.
However, the same website loads without any issues in browsers like Chrome and Firefox.
Why does this happen with Tor?
Is there any reliable way to make the website load consistently over the Tor network or using Tor Browser?
The site you mentioned has no issues with Tor exit nodes. I tested it in the Tor Browser and clicked “New Tor Circuit for this Site” 20 times. Maybe your internet connection is slow, or you’re using bridges like obfs4 or Snowflake. If you are in Iran, try choosing a different bridge and test a few to find a faster one.
What exactly do you see, does anything at all load or does the request simply timeout? I have no difficulty loading https://www.iran-legal.com with Tor Browser 14.5.8 with Security level set to Standard. I tried a dozen different circuits (exit nodes) and could connect easily every time.
The site’s host addresses belong to Cloudflare (US). Do you experience similar difficulties accessing other sites via Tor? If the problem is intermittent it could be that Cloudflare was blocking access from Tor during a period a high traffic from the network (i.e. it may have been detected as part of a DDoS attack).
If you are based in Iran this behavior could be due to censorship of Tor itself. Others here can best advise how to proceed if this is the case.
Is there any reliable way to make the website load consistently over the Tor network or using Tor Browser?
Unlikely. The behavior you describe seems to be due to Cloudflare or someone else blocking certain Tor exit nodes. There is nothing you can do to circumvent this, other than access the site through a regular browser (and abandon your anonymity). It could be worse, some sites/DDoS protection services block Tor completely.
The answer is simple. The Tor network is often used for abuse by many people: spam, scraping, bots, illegal stuff, etc, etc. As a result the IPs the people come out of get blocked temporarily or forever. By getting a new circuit you get an IP which is not blocked. I just tried it 2 times and I’m in.
You heard of Murphy’s law? Well his cousin twice removed had another expression: If something can be abused, it will.
On further inspection, if you go to https :// ip-api . com/#www.iran-legal.com you will see that the site is in Toronto Canada in Cloudflare’s network. They are the “captcha people” and probably check the source IP and block if needed.
Next time you get blocked, pick up your IP using the circuit icon (top,left), then search for “is this IP blacklist” and feed it your IP. It’s probably in the list.
I tried a bunch circuits, and the website never failed to load for me.
This seems to indicate that the issue is with your access to Tor, rather than Tor’s access to the website.
Is it only this website for you that isn’t working well?