Meet "Tor", The Military-Made Privacy Network That Counts Edward Snowden As A Fan

[99th_Monkey]

Meet Tor, The Military-Made Privacy Network That Counts Edward Snowden As A Fan
Posted: 07/18/2013 7:45 am EDT * by Gerry Smith * HuffPo

When the U.S. Navy created Tor, a software that enables people to use the Internet anonymously, it didn't envision someone like Edward Snowden.

Quite the opposite: military programmers originally built the software in the mid-1990s to support government spying operations.

Yet last month, a photograph of Snowden, who leaked a trove of secrets about U.S. government surveillance, showed a sticker on his laptop supporting the Tor Project, the nonprofit that runs the anonymity network.

The image underscored the diverse -- and sometimes conflicting -- community of people using and supporting Tor to communicate anonymously on the Web.

Tor, which can be downloaded online, operates like a browser -- albeit slower because it is bouncing packets of data across several continents to protect anonymity. Journalists, whistleblowers, domestic abuse victims and dissidents living under repressive regimes use Tor to bypass government censors and prevent their online movements from being tracked. The U.S. State Department provides funding to the Tor Project to promote Internet freedom in other countries.

But the anonymizing software has also been used by whistleblowers to leak sensitive U.S. government secrets. Though it's unclear whether Snowden used Tor to disclose details about NSA surveillance to reporters, Wikileaks has reportedly used the software to protect whistleblowers.

"Tor's importance to Wikileaks cannot be understated," Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told Rolling Stone in 2010.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/18/tor-snowden_n_3610370.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

[PDJane]

1. I use Tor, off and on.

It's an interesting programme. It works.

[99th_Monkey]

2. cool

is it free? or does it cost money?

[tumtum]

3. It's free.

Last year, the FBI tried to get a federal judge to force TOR to reveal it's encryption because the FBI couldn't track people using it, the judge flat refused the FBI's request.

Here's the website.
https://www.torproject.org/

[99th_Monkey]

6. thanks for the link :-) eom

[leveymg]

4. Is this part of the so-called "underweb" we've been hearing about?

If I were in the NSA watch everyone game, I'd be paying close attention to who's downloading Tor - in fact, I'd try to arouse interest and corner the market in vendors, slipping in a back-door or two in the process.

There's something about huffingtonpost that reminds me of that operating principle. Google, too. Here are the top sites retrieved in a search for "Tor browser." Notice any lions in the high grass near these conveniently located waterholes?

Tor Browser Bundle
https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en?
The Tor Browser Bundle lets you use Tor on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux without needing to install any software. It can run off a USB flash drive, comes with a ...
Download Tor Browser Bundle
www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en?
Want Tor to really work? You need to change some of your habits, as some things won't work exactly as you are used to. Please read the full list of warnings for ...
Tor Project: Anonymity Online
https://www.torproject.org/?
Tor prevents anyone from learning your location or browsing habits. Tor is for web ... Tor Browser contains everything you need to safely browse the Internet.
News for tor browser

'Tortilla' Spices Up Active Defense Ops
Dark Reading ?- 5 days ago
It also prevents malware from circumventing the Tor tunnel, he says -- something that wily hackers can do today via the Tor's browser, the Tor ...

[Recursion]

5. It's still got some problems, but it's a solid idea

Specifically, note the caveat about the strength of the anonymity when you install it.

[FarCenter]

7. Tor overview

https://www.torproject.org/about/overview.html.en

[marions ghost]

8. This gets complicated...

according to the article:

"Soghoian said activity on Tor is unlikely to evade NSA surveillance. Yet its multiple layers of encryption remain useful for people evading government surveillance and censorship in Iran, Syria or China, as well as criminals looking to escape the watchful eye of law enforcement, he said.
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"Ultimately, as with states, anonymization services should be held accountable for their users’ behavior if they do not cooperate with law enforcement," Robert Knake, who is now director of cybersecurity for the White House, told a congressional committee in 2010.

But law enforcement also uses Tor to infiltrate illegal websites and catch criminals who use the software to hide from them, according to Soghoian.

In addition, Tor's creators -- those in the government -- say the more people using the network, the better. Tor's wide range of users, including those engaging in illegal activity, only further assist the software's original purpose: to cloak U.S. spying efforts, according to Michael Reed, one of Tor's original developers."
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I take this to mean that Tor is not a useful tool for Americans dealing with NSA surveillance.