Free and open-source software project for enabling anonymous communication
This article is about the organization. For the organization's software, see
Tor (network)
.
The Tor Project, Inc.
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Tor-logo-2011-flat.svg/220px-Tor-logo-2011-flat.svg.png) |
Formation
| December 22, 2006
|
---|
Founders
| |
---|
Type
| 501(c)(3)
|
---|
| 20-8096820
|
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Purpose
| To advance human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
[1]
|
---|
Headquarters
| Winchester, Massachusetts
, U.S.
|
---|
Products
| |
---|
Executive Director
| Isabela Bagueros
[2]
|
---|
Revenue
(2020)
| $4,400,782
[3]
|
---|
Expenses
(2020)
| $4,360,447
[3]
|
---|
Website
| |
---|
The Tor Project, Inc.
is a
501(c)(3)
research-education
[4]
nonprofit organization
based in
Winchester, Massachusetts
.
[5]
It is founded by computer scientists
Roger Dingledine
,
Nick Mathewson
, and five others. The Tor Project is primarily responsible for maintaining software for the
Tor
anonymity network.
[6]
History
[
edit
]
The Tor Project, Inc. was founded on December 22, 2006
[5]
by computer scientists
Roger Dingledine
,
Nick Mathewson
and five others. The
Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF) acted as the Tor Project's
fiscal sponsor
in its early years, and early financial supporters of the Tor Project included the U.S.
International Broadcasting Bureau
,
Internews
,
Human Rights Watch
, the
University of Cambridge
,
Google
, and Netherlands-based
Stichting NLnet
.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[11]
[12]
In October 2014, the Tor Project hired the public relations firm Thomson Communications in order to improve its public image (particularly regarding the terms "Dark Net" and "hidden services") and to educate journalists about the technical aspects of Tor.
[13]
In May 2015, the Tor Project ended the Tor Cloud Service.
[14]
[15]
In December 2015, the Tor Project announced that it had hired
Shari Steele
, former executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as its new executive director. Roger Dingledine, who had been acting as interim executive director since May 2015, remained at the Tor Project as a director and board member.
[16]
[17]
[18]
Later that month, the Tor Project announced that the
Open Technology Fund
would be sponsoring a
bug bounty program
that was coordinated by
HackerOne
.
[19]
[20]
The program was initially invite-only and focuses on finding vulnerabilities that are specific to the Tor Project's applications.
[19]
On May 25, 2016, Tor Project employee
Jacob Appelbaum
stepped down from his position;
[21]
[22]
[23]
this was announced on June 2 in a two-line statement by Tor.
[24]
Over the following days, allegations of sexual mistreatment were made public by several people.
[23]
On July 13, 2016, the complete board of the Tor Project ? Meredith Hoban Dunn,
Ian Goldberg
, Julius Mittenzwei, Rabbi Rob Thomas,
Wendy Seltzer
,
Roger Dingledine
and
Nick Mathewson
? was replaced with
Matt Blaze
,
Cindy Cohn
,
Gabriella Coleman
, Linus Nordberg,
Megan Price
and
Bruce Schneier
.
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
A new anti-harassment policy has been approved by the new board, as well as a conflicts of interest policy, procedures for submitting complaints, and an internal complaint review process.
[29]
[30]
The affair continues to be controversial, with considerable dissent within the Tor community.
[31]
In 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
, the Tor project's core team let go of 13 employees, leaving a working staff of 22 people.
[32]
Funding
[
edit
]
As of 2012
[update]
, 80% of the Tor Project's $2 million annual budget came from the
United States government
, with the
U.S. State Department
, the
Broadcasting Board of Governors
, and the
National Science Foundation
as major contributors,
[33]
"to aid democracy advocates in authoritarian states".
[34]
The
Swedish government
and other organizations provided the other 20%, including
NGOs
and thousands of individual sponsors.
[35]
Dingledine said that the
United States Department of Defense
funds are more similar to a
research grant
than a
procurement contract
. Tor executive director Andrew Lewman said that even though it accepts funds from the U.S. federal government, the Tor service did not collaborate with the NSA to reveal identities of users.
[36]
In June 2016, the Tor Project received an award from
Mozilla
's Open Source Support program (MOSS). The award was "to significantly enhance the Tor network's metrics infrastructure so that the performance and stability of the network can be monitored and improvements made as appropriate."
[37]
Tools
[
edit
]
- Analytics for the Tor network, including graphs of its available bandwidth and estimated userbase. This is a great resource for researchers interested in detailed statistics about Tor.
- a terminal (command line) application for monitoring and configuring Tor, intended for command-line enthusiasts and ssh connections. This functions much like top does for system usage, providing real time information on Tor's resource utilization and state.
- Web-based protocol to learn about currently running Tor relays and bridges.
- An open source tool that allows users to securely and anonymously share a file of any size.
- a global observation network, monitoring network censorship, which aims to collect high-quality data using open methodologies, using Free and Open Source Software (FL/OSS) to share observations and data about the various types, methods, and amounts of network tampering in the world.
- Tor for Android and
iOS
devices, in collaboration with
The Guardian Project
- a library for use by any Android application to route Internet traffic through Orbot/Tor.
- Pluggable Transports (PT)
- helps circumvent censorship. Transforms the Tor traffic flow between the client and the bridge. This way, censors who monitor traffic between the client and the bridge will see innocent-looking transformed traffic instead of the actual Tor traffic.
- Site providing an overview of the Tor network.
- a discrete-event network simulator that runs the real Tor software as a plug-in. Shadow is open-source software that enables accurate, efficient, controlled, and repeatable Tor experimentation.
- Python Library for writing scripts and applications that interact with Tor.
- Tails
(The Amnesic Incognito Live System)
- a live CD/USB distribution preconfigured so that everything is safely routed through Tor and leaves no trace on the local system.
- free software and an open network that helps a user defend against
traffic analysis
, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security. The organization has also implemented the software in Rust named Arti.
[38]
- a customization of Mozilla Firefox which uses a Tor circuit for browsing anonymously and with other features consistent with the Tor mission.
- A phone that routes its network traffic through tor network. Initially based on a
CopperheadOS
custom ROM prototype,
[39]
using Tor with Orbot and Tor Browser are supported by custom Android operating systems
CalyxOS
[40]
[41]
and
DivestOS
.
[42]
GrapheneOS
supports using Orbot VPN
[43]
but not Tor Browser.
[44]
- Torbutton for Thunderbird and related *bird forks.
- Python and Twisted event-based implementation of the Tor control protocol. Unit-tests, state and configuration abstractions, documentation. It is available on PyPI and in Debian.
[45]
Recognition
[
edit
]
In March 2011, the Tor Project received the
Free Software Foundation
's 2010 Award for Projects of Social Benefit. The citation read, "Using free software, Tor has enabled roughly 36 million people around the world to experience freedom of access and expression on the Internet while keeping them in control of their privacy and anonymity. Its network has proved pivotal in dissident movements in both
Iran
and more recently
Egypt
."
[46]
In September 2012, the Tor Project received the 2012
EFF Pioneer Award
, along with
Jeremie Zimmermann
and
Andrew Huang
.
[47]
In November 2012,
Foreign Policy
magazine named Dingledine, Mathewson, and Syverson among its Top 100 Global Thinkers "for making the web safe for whistleblowers".
[48]
In 2014, Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson and Paul Syverson received the
USENIX
Test of Time Award for their paper titled "Tor: The Second-Generation Onion Router", which was published in the
Proceedings of the 13th USENIX Security Symposium
, August 2004.
[49]
In 2021, the Tor Project was awarded the
Levchin Prize for real-world cryptography
.
[50]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Tor Project.
"Tor Project Mission Statement"
.
Tor Project
. Retrieved
January 11,
2023
.
- ^
N/A, steph (April 23, 2018).
"Announcing Tor's Next Executive Director: Isabela Bagueros"
.
TorProject
. Tor Project Blog
. Retrieved
December 26,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
"Tor Project Form 990 2019"
(PDF)
. Tor Project. July 8, 2021
. Retrieved
August 6,
2021
.
- ^
"The Tor Social Contract | Tor Project"
.
blog.torproject.org
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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b
"The Tor Project, Inc. :: Massachusetts (US) :: OpenCorporates"
.
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. December 22, 2006
. Retrieved
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2024
.
- ^
"Tor Project: People"
. The Tor Project, Inc
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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(PDF)
.
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. 2009
. Retrieved
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2014
.
- ^
"Tor Project Form 990 2007"
(PDF)
.
Tor Project
. 2008
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2014
.
- ^
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(PDF)
.
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. Retrieved
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2014
.
- ^
"The NLnet Foundation funds two projects"
.
Torproject blog
. June 6, 2008.
- ^
Krebs, Brian (August 8, 2007).
"Attacks Prompt Update for 'Tor' Anonymity Network"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
October 27,
2007
.
- ^
"Can Tor solve its PR problem?"
.
The Daily Dot
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. Retrieved
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2015
.
- ^
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- ^
karsten (May 8, 2015).
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.
- ^
"Tor Hires a New Leader to Help It Combat the War on Privacy"
.
WIRED
. Retrieved
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2016
.
- ^
"Shari Steele named executive director of the Tor Project"
.
SC Magazine
. December 11, 2015
. Retrieved
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2016
.
- ^
"Roger Dingledine Becomes Interim Executive Director of the Tor Project | The Tor Blog"
.
blog.torproject.org
. Retrieved
April 29,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Cox, Joseph (December 29, 2015).
"The Tor Project Is Starting a Bug Bounty Program"
.
Motherboard
. Vice Media LLC
. Retrieved
February 14,
2016
.
- ^
Conditt, Jessica (December 31, 2015).
"Tor plans to launch a bug bounty program"
.
Engadget
. AOL Inc
. Retrieved
February 14,
2016
.
- ^
ssteele (June 2, 2016).
"Jacob Appelbaum leaves the Tor Project"
. The Tor Project, Inc
. Retrieved
June 4,
2016
.
- ^
Smith, Jack IV (June 4, 2016).
"Jacob Appelbaum, Digital Rights Activist, Leaves Tor Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations"
.
Tech.Mic
. Retrieved
June 5,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Steele, Shari (June 4, 2016).
"Statement"
. The Tor Project, Inc
. Retrieved
June 5,
2016
.
- ^
Cimpanu, Catalin (June 6, 2016).
"Jacob Appelbaum Leaves Tor Project amid Multiple "Sexual Misconduct" Accusations: Tor Project leadership distances itself from Applebaum as the "sexual misconduct" accusations gain more ground"
. Softpedia
. Retrieved
June 5,
2016
.
- ^
Perlroth, Nicole (July 13, 2016).
"Tor Project, a Digital Privacy Group, Reboots With New Board"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
July 14,
2016
.
- ^
Farivar, Cyrus (July 13, 2016).
"In wake of Appelbaum fiasco, Tor Project shakes up board of directors"
.
arstechnica.com
.
Ars Technica
. Retrieved
July 14,
2016
.
- ^
"Tor Project installs new board of directors after Jacob Appelbaum controversy"
, Colin Lecher, July 13, 2016, The Verge
- ^
"The Tor Project Elects New Board of Directors"
Archived
2017-08-06 at the
Wayback Machine
, July 13th, 2016, Tor.org
- ^
Stelle, Shari (July 27, 2016).
"Statement"
. The Tor Project, Inc
. Retrieved
July 27,
2016
.
- ^
Farivar, Cyrus (July 27, 2016).
"Tor inquiry: "Many people" reported being "humiliated" by Appelbaum: Going forward, group will now have a new anti-harassment policy, among other changes"
.
Ars Technica
. Retrieved
July 27,
2016
.
- ^
Bernstein, Joseph (August 23, 2016).
"video Tech Dissent And Distrust In Tor Community Following Jacob Appelbaum's Ouster: In the aftermath of the explosive allegations against its most famous advocate, and under new leadership, the Tor Project struggles to move on"
. BuzzFeedNews
. Retrieved
August 24,
2016
.
- ^
"COVID-19's impact on Tor | Tor Blog"
.
blog.torproject.org
. Retrieved
April 20,
2020
.
- ^
McKim, Jenifer B. (March 8, 2012).
"Privacy software, criminal use"
.
The Boston Globe
. Archived from
the original
on March 12, 2012.
- ^
J. Appelbaum; A. Gibson; J. Goetz; V. Kabisch; L. Kampf; L. Ryge (July 3, 2014).
"NSA targets the privacy-conscious"
.
Panorama
. Norddeutscher Rundfunk
. Retrieved
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2014
.
- ^
Fowler, Geoffrey A. (December 17, 2012).
"Tor: an anonymous, and controversial, way to web-surf"
.
Wall Street Journal
. Retrieved
May 19,
2013
.
- ^
Fung, Brian (September 6, 2013).
"The feds pay for 60 percent of Tor's development. Can users trust it?"
.
The Switch
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
February 6,
2014
.
- ^
"Mozilla Awards $385,000 to Open Source Projects as part of MOSS "Mission Partners" Program | The Mozilla Blog"
.
blog.mozilla.org
. Retrieved
June 3,
2024
.
- ^
nickm.
"Arti 1.0.0 is released: Our Rust Tor implementation is ready for production use"
.
Tor Blog
. Retrieved
October 1,
2022
.
- ^
Staff, Ars (November 22, 2016).
"Tor phone is antidote to Google "hostility" over Android, says developer"
.
Ars Technica
.
Archived
from the original on August 13, 2022
. Retrieved
August 13,
2022
.
- ^
"Orbot"
.
calyxos.org
. Retrieved
February 4,
2023
.
- ^
"Apps"
.
calyxos.org
. Retrieved
February 4,
2023
.
- ^
"Recommended Apps - DivestOS Mobile"
.
divestos.org
. Retrieved
February 4,
2023
.
- ^
"Frequently Asked Questions | GrapheneOS"
.
grapheneos.org
. Retrieved
February 4,
2023
.
- ^
"Usage guide | GrapheneOS"
.
grapheneos.org
. Retrieved
February 4,
2023
.
- ^
"Projects Overview"
.
The Tor Project, Inc
. Retrieved
November 15,
2018
.
This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
license.
- ^
"2010 Free Software Awards announced"
.
Free Software Foundation
. Retrieved
March 23,
2011
.
- ^
"EFF Pioneer Awards 2012"
. Electronic Frontier Foundation. September 20, 2012
. Retrieved
August 17,
2015
.
- ^
Wittmeyer, Alicia P.Q. (November 26, 2012).
"The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers"
.
Foreign Policy
. Archived from
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on November 30, 2012
. Retrieved
November 28,
2012
.
- ^
"USENIX Test of Time Awards"
. USENIX. September 4, 2013
. Retrieved
August 29,
2015
.
- ^
"The Levchin Prize for Real-World Cryptography"
.
Real World Crypto Symposium
. International Association for Cryptologic Research
. Retrieved
April 9,
2024
.
External links
[
edit
]