diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 540ff20..0d3fe48 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@ DESCRIPTION
       This proxy typically listens at 127.0.0.1:4444.
 
     * This script will attempt to connect to instances in the CSV that are on
-      Tor, provided that it can (it will check to see if Tor is running and the
-      availability of the torsocks program). If you want to disable connections
-      to these onion sites, provide the -T option.
+      Tor, provided that it can (it will check to see if Tor is running). 
+      If you want to disable connections to these onion sites, provide the 
+      -T option.
 
     * This script will return a non-zero status code when at least one instance
       could not be reached. If you want this script always to return 0 even
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ ENVIRONMENT
 
 `generate-instances-json.sh` requires **curl** in order to make HTTP(S) requests and **jq** to process and format JSON.
 
-**tor** and **torsocks** are required for processing onion sites, but the script will skip instances on Tor if neither tor is running nor torsocks is available. An option exists to import onion sites from an existing JSON file should you wish not to use tor.
+**tor** is required for processing onion sites, but the script will skip instances on Tor if tor is not running. 
+An option exists to import onion sites from an existing JSON file should you wish not to use tor.
 
 ### Expected CSV format
 
@@ -170,7 +171,7 @@ This script will attempt to connect to instances that are onion or I2P sites.
 
 ##### Tor
 
-To make sure it can connect to onion sites, the script will see if Tor is running and if torsocks is installed. If neither condition is met, the script will not attempt to connect to Redlib onion sites and will skip them. The exit code will still be 0, assuming that the WWW Redlib sites were processed without error.
+To make sure it can connect to onion sites, the script will see if Tor is running. If it is not, the script will not attempt to connect to Redlib onion sites and will skip them. The exit code will still be 0, assuming that the WWW Redlib sites were processed without error.
 
 ##### I2P
 
diff --git a/generate-instances-json.sh b/generate-instances-json.sh
index 0a1e95e..3c46714 100755
--- a/generate-instances-json.sh
+++ b/generate-instances-json.sh
@@ -61,10 +61,10 @@ check_program ()
 
 # can_tor
 #
-# Returns true if tor is running and torsocks is installed.
+# Returns true if tor is running
 can_tor ()
 {
-    check_tor && check_program torsocks
+    check_tor
 }
 
 # can_i2p
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ canonicalize_url ()
 #
 # Makes an HTTP(S) GET equest to the provided URL with curl. The response is
 # written to standard out. get will determine if the URL is an onion site, and,
-# if so, it wrap the curl call with torsocks. If the URL is a I2P site, and
+# if so, it wrap the curl call with socks proxy. If the URL is a I2P site, and
 # I2P_HTTP_PROXY is non-empty, tell curl to use that as the proxy.
 #
 # The return value is the curl return value, or:
@@ -345,8 +345,8 @@ get ()
     #  - Increase curl max-time to 60 seconds.
     if [[ "${zone,,}" == "onion" ]]
     then
-        # Don't bother if tor isn't running or we don't have torsocks. But if
-        # both are available, make sure we warp curl with torsocks.
+        # Don't bother if tor isn't running. But if both are available, 
+        # make sure we warp curl with socks.
         if [[ "${no_tor}" == "y" ]]
         then
             return 104
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ get ()
         fi
 
         timeout=60
-        curl_cmd=(torsocks curl)
+        curl_cmd=(curl --proxy socks5h://localhost:9050)
     elif [[ "${zone,,}" == "i2p" ]]
     then
         if [[ "${no_i2p}" == "y" ]]
@@ -552,9 +552,9 @@ DESCRIPTION
       This proxy typically listens at 127.0.0.1:4444.
 
     * This script will attempt to connect to instances in the CSV that are on
-      Tor, provided that it can (it will check to see if Tor is running and the
-      availability of the torsocks program). If you want to disable connections
-      to these onion sites, provide the -T option.
+      Tor, provided that it can (it will check to see if Tor is running).
+      If you want to disable connections to these onion sites, provide the
+      -T option.
 
     * This script will return a non-zero status code when at least one instance
       could not be reached. If you want this script always to return 0 even
@@ -745,7 +745,7 @@ main ()
     then
         if [[ "${do_tor}" == "y" ]]
         then
-            echo >&2 "WARNING: Either the tor service is not running or torsocks is not available. Either way, onion sites will not be processed."
+            echo >&2 "WARNING: The tor service is not running. Onion sites will not be processed."
         fi
         do_tor="n"
         get_opts+=("-T")