overview.html (35de79c1f) - tor-webwml.git

35de79c1fff3e3397afd3e9c46a05d3a81fd677b

first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`1) <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> 2) 3) <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> 4) <head> 5) <title>Tor: Overview</title>`
clean up my meta and br tags Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`6) <meta name="Author" content="Roger Dingledine" />`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`7) <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> 8) <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="default.css" />`
list the favicon on every page Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`9) <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico" />`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`10) </head> 11) 12) <body> 13) <div class="menu" id="side"> 14) <!-- <img id="logo" src="tor.jpg" alt="cute tor gate" /> -->`
clean up my meta and br tags Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`15) <a href="index.html">Home</a> <br />`
website patches from annalee Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`16) <a href="howitworks.html">How it works</a> <br />`
clean up my meta and br tags Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`17) <a href="download.html">Download</a> <br /> 18) <a href="documentation.html">Documentation</a><br />`
link to the FAQ Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`19) <a href="http://wiki.noreply.org/wiki/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ">FAQ</a><br />`
clean up my meta and br tags Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`20) <a href="contribute.html">Contribute</a> <br /> 21) <a href="developers.html">Developers</a> <br /> 22) <a href="research.html">Research</a> <br /> 23) <a href="people.html">People</a> <br />`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`24) </div><!-- #side --> 25) <div class="main" id="main"> 26)`
give Tor: Overview a differ... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`27) <h2>Tor: Overview</h2>`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`28) 29) <p>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`30) Tor is a network-within-a-network that allows people and groups to 31) improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables`
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`32) software developers to create new communication tools 33) with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for 34) a range of applications that allow organizations and individuals`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`35) to share information over public networks without compromising their 36) privacy.`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`37) </p> 38) 39) <p>`
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`40) Individuals can use Tor to keep remote websites from tracking them and their 41) family members. 42) They can also use it to connect`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`43) to resources such as news sites or instant messaging services that are 44) blocked by their local Internet service providers (ISPs).`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`45) </p> 46) 47) <p>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	48) Groups such as the German "Diabetes People" organization recommend Tor 49) for safeguarding their members' online privacy and security. Activist 50) groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are supporting 51) Tor's development as a mechanism for maintaining civil liberties online. 52) Corporations are investigating Tor as a safe way to conduct competitive 53) analysis, and are considering using Tor to test new experimental projects 54) without associating their names with these projects. A branch of the
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`55) U.S. Navy uses Tor for open source intelligence gathering, and one of its`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`56) teams used Tor while deployed in the Middle East recently.`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`57) </p> 58) 59) <p>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`60) The variety of people who use Tor is actually part of what makes it`
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`61) so secure. Tor hides you among the other users on the network, so the more 62) populous and diverse the user base for Tor is,`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`63) the more your anonymity will be protected. 64) </p> 65)`
clean up tor website furthe... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`66) <h3>Why we need Tor</h3>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	67) 68) <p> 69) Using Tor protects you against a common form of Internet surveillance 70) known as "traffic analysis." Traffic analysis can be used to infer 71) who is talking to whom over a public network. Knowing the source 72) and destination of your Internet traffic allows others to track your 73) behavior and interests. This can impact your checkbook if, for example, 74) an e-commerce site uses price discrimination based on your country or 75) institution of origin. It can even threaten your job and physical safety
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`76) by revealing who and where you are. For example, if you're travelling 77) abroad and you connect to your employer's computers to check or send mail, 78) you can inadvertently reveal your national origin and professional`
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`79) affiliation to anyone observing the network, even if the connection`
make it clearer there's mor... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`80) is encrypted.`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`81) </p> 82) 83) <p> 84) How does traffic analysis work? Internet data packets have two parts:`
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`85) a data payload and a header used for routing. The data payload is`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`86) whatever is being sent, whether that's an email message, a web page, or an 87) audio file. Even if you encrypt the data payload of your communications, 88) traffic analysis still reveals a great deal about what you're doing and, 89) possibly, what you're saying. That's because it focuses on the header, 90) which discloses source, destination, size, timing, and so on. 91) </p> 92) 93) <p>`
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`94) A basic problem for the privacy minded is that the recipient of your 95) communications can see that you sent it by looking at headers. So can`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	96) authorized intermediaries like Internet service providers, and sometimes 97) unauthorized intermediaries as well. A very simple form of traffic 98) analysis might involve sitting somewhere between sender and recipient on 99) the network, looking at headers. 100) </p> 101) 102) <p> 103) But there are also more powerful kinds of traffic analysis. Some 104) attackers spy on multiple parts of the Internet and use sophisticated 105) statistical techniques to track the communications patterns of many
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`106) different organizations and individuals. Encryption does not help against 107) these attackers, since it only hides the content of Internet traffic, not 108) the headers.`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`109) </p> 110)`
clean up tor website furthe... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`111) <h3>The solution: a distributed, anonymous network</h3>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`112) 113) <p> 114) Tor helps to reduce the risks of both simple and sophisticated traffic 115) analysis by distributing your transactions over several places on the 116) Internet, so no single point can link you to your destination. The idea 117) is similar to using a twisty, hard-to-follow route in order to throw off`
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`118) somebody who is tailing you—and then periodically erasing your`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`119) footprints. Instead of taking a direct route from source to 120) destination, data packets on the Tor network take a random pathway 121) through several servers that cover your tracks so no observer at any 122) single point can tell where the data came from or where it's going. 123) </p> 124)`
remove 'align' incant that... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`125) <img alt="tor circuit step one" src="img/htw1.png" /> 126) <img alt="tor circuit step two" src="img/htw2.png" />`
put ren's how-tor-works dia... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`127)`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`128) <p> 129) To create a private network pathway with Tor, the user's software or 130) client incrementally builds a circuit of encrypted connections through 131) servers on the network. The circuit is extended one hop at a time, and 132) each server along the way knows only which server gave it data and which`
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`133) server it is giving data to. No individual server ever knows the`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`134) complete path that a data packet has taken. The client negotiates a 135) separate set of encryption keys for each hop along the circuit to ensure`
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`136) that each hop can't trace these connections as they pass through.`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`137) </p> 138)`
remove 'align' incant that... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`139) <img alt="tor circuit step three" src="img/htw3.png" />`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`140) 141) <p>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	142) Once a circuit has been established, many kinds of data can be exchanged 143) and several different sorts of software applications can be deployed 144) over the Tor network. Because each server sees no more than one hop in 145) the circuit, neither an eavesdropper nor a compromised server can use 146) traffic analysis to link the connection's source and destination. Tor 147) only works for TCP streams and can be used by any application with SOCKS 148) support. 149) </p> 150) 151) <p> 152) For efficiency, the Tor software uses the same circuit for connections 153) that happen within the same minute or so. Later requests are given a 154) new circuit, to keep people from linking your earlier actions to the new 155) ones.
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`156) </p> 157)`
remove 'align' incant that... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`158) <img alt="tor circuit step four" src="img/htw4.png" />`
put ren's how-tor-works dia... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`159)`
clean up tor website furthe... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`160) <h3>Hidden services</h3>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`161)`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`162) <p>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	163) Tor also makes it possible for users to hide their locations while 164) offering various kinds of services, such as web publishing or an instant 165) messaging server. Using Tor "rendezvous points," other Tor users can 166) connect to these hidden services, each without knowing the other's 167) network identity. This hidden service functionality could allow Tor 168) users to set up a website where people publish material without worrying 169) about censorship. Nobody would be able to determine who was offering 170) the site, and nobody who offered the site would know who was posting to it.
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`171) </p>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`172)`
clean up tor website furthe... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`173) <h3>Staying anonymous</h3>`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`174) 175) <p>`
Apply strunk&white, clarify... Nick Mathewson authored 20 years ago	`176) Tor can't solve all anonymity problems. It focuses only on`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`177) protecting the transport of data. You need to use protocol-specific 178) support software if you don't want the sites you visit to see your`
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`179) identifying information. For example, you can use web proxies such as 180) Privoxy while web browsing to block cookies and withhold information`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`181) about your browser type.`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`182) </p> 183) 184) <p>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`185) Also, to protect your anonymity, be smart. Don't provide your name`
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`186) or other revealing information in web forms. Be aware that, like all`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`187) anonymizing networks that are fast enough for web browsing, Tor does not`
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`188) provide protection against end-to-end timing attacks: If your attacker`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`189) can watch the traffic coming out of your computer, and also the traffic 190) arriving at your chosen destination, he can use statistical analysis to 191) discover that they are part of the same circuit. 192) </p> 193)`
clean up tor website furthe... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`194) <h3>The future of Tor</h3>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`195) 196) <p>`
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`197) Providing a usable anonymizing network on the Internet today is an 198) ongoing challenge. We want software that meets users' needs. We also 199) want to keep the network up and running in a way that handles as many 200) users as possible. Security and usability don't have to be at odds: 201) As Tor's usability increases, it will attract more users, which will 202) increase the possible sources and destinations of each communication, 203) thus increasing security for everyone.`
make usability/security dis... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`204) We're making progress, but we need your help. Please consider`
website fixes suggested by... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`205) <a href="cvs/tor/doc/tor-doc.html#installing">installing</a> a <a 206) href="cvs/tor/doc/tor-doc.html#server">server</a>`
revised overview text Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`207) or <a href="contribute.html">volunteering</a> as a <a 208) href="developers.html">developer</a>.`
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`209) </p> 210) 211) <p>`
clean up last paragraph of... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	212) Ongoing trends in law, policy, and technology threaten anonymity as never 213) before, undermining our ability to speak and read freely online. These 214) trends also undermine national security and critical infrastructure by 215) making communication among individuals, organizations, corporations, 216) and governments more vulnerable to analysis. Each new user and server 217) provides additional diversity, enhancing Tor's ability to put control 218) over your security and privacy back into your hands.
first cut of new website Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`219) </p> 220) 221) </div><!-- #main -->`
decide on a format for cont... Roger Dingledine authored 20 years ago	`222) <div class="bottom" id="bottom"> 223) <i><a href="mailto:tor-webmaster@freehaven.net">Webmaster</a></i> - 224) $Id$ 225) </div>`