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Tor, an anonymous Internet communication system, is a second generation Onion Routing network that allows people to communicate anonymously. Tor can be used as an outproxy to the regular Internet, or hidden services can be accessed inside the Tor network. Like the Freenet and GNUnet networks, Tor can be used to circumvent content filters, censorship laws, and other restrictions on communication. Unlike Freenet, which is a distributed, encrypted, data store, Tor aims to simply create a framework for anonymous communication.
Tor is an overlay network which uses Onion Routing to stream data between anonymous endpoints. Data that is sent through Tor is not stored unless a client application chooses to store the data. In contrast, publishing networks such as Freenet require data to be cached and spread throughout the network, and provide a very different sort of anonymity.
In outproxy mode, traffic on Tor is bounced around a centralized set of onion routing servers before leaving the Tor network and entering the regular Internet. This allows end users to access TCP services such as Web browsing, IRC, SSH, and instant messaging while maintaining their anonymity.
Hidden services on Tor allow servers to expose publicly accessible locations while remaining anonymous. These locations are similar to an IP address, but instead use a cryptographic public key as a means of addressing. This allows Internet users to overcome government censorship laws, among other uses.
The Tor source code is published under a DFSG free license; a precompiled version of Tor is also available for Microsoft Windows.
The number of publicly accessible onion routers is steadily increasing.
Tor is endorsed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
See also
- Onion Routing. See the Tor section for improvements of Tor over the original Onion Routing design.
- Java Anon Proxy
- Anonymous P2P
- I2P - A similar anonymous communication system that is designed as less of an outproxy network and more as a replacement for the conventional Internet.
- Misplaced Pages's policy toward anonymous proxies
External links
- Tor: An anonymous Internet communication system—hosted at the EFF
- Tor Wiki
- David Chaum Home page
- A list of publications
- David Chaum on Electronic Commerce: How Much Do You Trust Big Brother? — interview
- a remailer FAQ
- Remailer Vulnerabilities
- Mixmaster & Remailer Attacks
- Comparison of anonymizing networks
Further reading
- Email Security, Bruce Schneier (ISBN 047105318X)
- Computer Privacy Handbook, Andre Bacard (ISBN 1566091713)