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4) #include "head.wmi" TITLE="Who uses Tor?"
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6) <div class="main-column">
7) 
8) <h1>Who uses Tor?</h1>
9) <hr />
10) 

11) <p>
12) This page is still under construction; please <a href="<page
13) contact>">send us</a> your fixes, comments, and stories!
14) </p>
15) 
16) <p>
17) One of the challenges in explaining the various ways people use Tor
18) is that the whole point of Tor is anonymity: when it succeeds, nobody
19) notices, and publishing success stories about how people or organizations
20) are staying anonymous can be counterproductive. For example, we talked
21) to an FBI officer who explained that he uses Tor every day for his work
22) investigating sites on the Internet &mdash; but he quickly followed up
23) with a request not to provide details or mention his name.
24) </p>
25) 
26) <p>So while each story below represents actual users we've talked to,
27) we've done our best to anonymize them when appropriate.
28) </p>
29) 
30) <hr />
31) 

32) <h2>People like you use Tor every day to...</h2>
33) 
34) <ul>

35) <li>...protect their privacy from marketers</li>

36) 
37) <p>Anonymity helps defeat marketing that doesn't have your permissions.
38) There are all kinds of unscrupulous marketing techniques that track your
39) activity through cookies, web bugs, and malware by using your IP address
40) to build marketing databases, often selling your private information

41) without your permission.  Tor helps defeat many of these violations

42) of your privacy.</p>
43) 
44) <li>...preserve their kids' safety online</li>
45) 
46) <p>&ldquo;I'm proud my mom and dad let me stay alone at home now.&rdquo;
47) You've told your kids they shouldn't share personally identifying
48) information online, but they may be sharing their location simply
49) by not concealing their IP address from predators.  Increasingly, IP

50) addresses can be literally mapped to street locations, and in the US the

51) government is pushing to get this mapping closer and closer to your
52) street address.  What if a predator heard your child was alone, and
53) called up the satellite view of your address to find the best approach
54) from the back of the property?</p>
55) 
56) <li>...research sensitive topics</li>
57) 
58) <p>There's a wealth of information available online.   Perhaps, in your
59) country, access to information on AIDS, birth control, Tibetan culture,
60) or world religions may be restricted inside a national firewall.

61) Or perhaps you are afraid that if you research a particular set of

62) symptoms, at some later date an insurance company could establish that

63) you had suspicions of a pre-existing condition.  Want to research airline

64) security statistics or animal rights without the risk that your national
65) security authorities are going to think you are a terrorist? </p>
66) 
67) <li>...find out how other folks live</li>
68) 

69) <p>Tor allows you to see the World Wide
70) Web from a different perspective.  Want to see Google come up in Polish?
71) If you leave the Tor cloud at a Polish Tor relay, you'll see what

72) Poland sees online.  Want to check the differential pricing offered by
73) an online retailer or wholesaler to folks in another country, compared

74) to the pricing offered to you or your company?  Tor can
75) provide that window to the world.</p>

76) 
77) </ul>
78) 
79) <h2>Journalists use Tor</h2>
80) 
81) <ul>
82) 
83) <li>Reporters without Borders</li>
84) 

85) <p><a href="http://www.rsf.org/">Reporters without Borders</a> advises

86) journalists, sources, bloggers, and dissidents online to use Tor to
87) ensure their privacy.  RSF tracks internet prisoners of conscience and
88) jailed or harmed journalists all over the world.</p>
89) 
90) <li>IBB/Voice of America/Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Asia</li>
91) 

92) <p>The US <a href="http://www.ibb.gov/">International Broadcasting
93) Bureau</a> is supporting Tor development Internet users in countries
94) that can't get

95) safe access to free media.  Tor not only protects freedom of expression,
96) but preserves the ability of persons behind national firewalls or under
97) the surveillance of repressive regimes to view information that gives
98) a global perspective on democracy, economics, religion, and other vital
99) topics to a full global perspective on culture.</p>
100) 
101) <li>Reporters in sensitive locations</li>
102) 
103) <p>Reporters in sensitive environments can use Tor to be more secure in
104) filing their stories.</p>
105) 
106) <li>sources</li>
107) 
108) <p>Journalists' sources often use Tor to report sensitive information,
109) or to discuss items with journalists from sensitive locations.</p>
110) 
111) <li>whistleblowers</li>
112) 
113) <p>Likewise, whistleblowers use Tor to safely leave tips on governmental
114) and corporate malfeasance.
115) 
116) <li>citizen journalism</li>
117) 

118) <p>Citizen journalists in China and other &ldquo;Internet black

119) holes” use Tor to write about local events and to encourage social
120) change and political reform, more secure that there will not be a knock
121) on their door at midnight.</p>
122) 
123) </ul>
124) 
125) <h2>Human rights workers use Tor</h2>
126) 
127) <p>Reporting human rights violations from within their country of origin
128) is a task for peaceful warriors.  It takes courage and a good eye to risk
129) mitigation.  Human rights activists use Tor to anonymously report from
130) danger zones.  Internationally, labor rights workers use Tor and other
131) forms of online and offline anonymity to organize workers in accordance
132) with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Are they within the law?
133) But, does that mean they are safe?</p>
134) 
135) <ul>
136) 
137) <li>Human Rights Watch</li>
138) 
139) <p>In their report &ldquo;Race to the Bottom: Corporate
140) Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship,&rdquo; a study

141) co-author interviewed Roger Dingledine, Tor project leader,

142) on Tor use.  They cover Tor in the section on how to breach the <a
143) href="http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/china0806/3.htm#_Toc142395820">&ldquo;Great
144) Firewall of China &rdquo;</a></p>
145) 

146) <p><a href="http://hrw.org/doc/?t=internet">Human Rights Watch</a>
147) recommends Tor for human rights workers throughout

148) the globe for &ldquo;secure browsing and communications.&rdquo;</p>
149) 
150) <li>Amnesty International</li>
151) 
152) <p>Tor has consulted and volunteered help to Amnesty International's

153) recent corporate responsibility campaign at
154) <a href="http://irrepressible.info/">http://irrepressible.info/</a>.
155) See also their <a
156) href="http://irrepressible.info/static/pdf/FOE-in-china-2006-lores.pdf">full
157) report</a> on China Internet issues.</p>

158) 
159) <li>Global Voices</li>
160) 
161) <p>Global Voices can't stop recommending Tor throughout their <a

162) href="http://www.google.com/search?q=site:www.globalvoicesonline.org+tor">

163) web site.</a></p>
164) 
165) <li>10% for corruption</li>
166) 
167) <p>A contact of ours who works with a public health nonprofit in
168) Africa reports that his nonprofit must budget 10% to cover various
169) sorts of corruption, mostly bribes and such.  When that percentage
170) rises steeply, not only can they not afford the money, but they can
171) not afford to complain -- this is the point at which open objection can

172) become dangerous.  So his nonprofit has been working to use

173) Tor to safely whistleblow on governmental corruption in order to continue
174) their work more effectively and safely.</p>
175) 
176) <li>Labor organizers in the US and overseas</li>
177) 
178) <p>At a recent conference a Tor staffer ran into a woman who came from

179) a “company town” in a mountainous area of the

180) eastern United States. She was attempting to blog anonymously to rally

181) local residents to urge reform on the company that dominated the town's

182) economic and governmental affairs, fully cognizant that the kind of
183) organizing she was doing could lead to harm or “fatal
184) accidents.&rdquo;</p>
185) 
186) <p>In east Asia, some labor organizers use anonymity to reveal information
187) regarding sweatshops that produce goods for western countries and to
188) organize local labor.</p>
189) 
190) </ul>
191) 
192) <h2>People with high profile community roles use Tor</h2>
193) 
194) <p>Does being in the public spotlight shut you off from having a private
195) life, forever, online?  A rural lawyer in a small New England state keeps
196) an anonymous blog because, with the diverse clientele at his prestigious
197) law firm, his political beliefs are bound to offend someone.  Yet, he
198) doesn't want to remain silent on issues he cares about.  Tor helps him
199) feel secure that he can express his opinion without consequences to his
200) public role.</p>
201) 
202) <h2>Poor people use Tor</h2>
203) 
204) <p>People living in poverty often don't participate fully in civil society
205) -- not out of ignorance or apathy, but out of fear.  If something you
206) write were to get back to your boss, would you lose your job?  If your
207) social worker read about your opinion of the system, would she treat
208) you differently?  Anonymity gives a voice to the voiceless.</p>
209) 
210) <ul>
211) 
212) <li>VISTA grant</li>
213) 
214) <p>Tor has an open Americorps/VISTA position.  This
215) government grant will cover a full time stipend for a volunteer to create
216) curricula to show low-income populations how to use anonymity online for
217) safer civic engagement.  Although it's often said that the poor do not use
218) online access for civic engagment, failing to act in their self-interests,
219) it is our hypothesis (based on personal conversations and anecdotal
220) information) that it is precisely the &ldquo;permanent record &rdquo;
221) left online that keeps many of the poor from speaking out on the Internet.
222) Where speaking out on social programs or job related issues might seem
223) in their enlightened self interest, they see things closer to home.
224) The boss or social worker or educational advisor virtually looking over
225) their shoulder could put a fragile situation into a tailspin.</p>
226) 
227) <p>We hope to show people how to more safely engage online, and then at
228) the end of the year, evaluate how online and offline civic engagement has
229) changed, and how the population sees this continuing in clear channels
230) and anonymously into the future.</p>
231) 
232) </ul>
233) 
234) <h2>People who care about privacy, in general, increasingly use Tor</h2>
235) 
236) <p>In the section below on recent media mentions of Tor, it becomes
237) clear that the recent revelation of users' browsing patterns by AOL has
238) piqued the conscience of the everyday Internet surfer in more privacy.
239) All over the net, Tor is being recommended to people newly concerned
240) about their privacy in the face of increasing breaches and betrayals of
241) private data.</p>
242) 
243) <h2>Soldiers in the field use Tor</h2>
244) 
245) <ul>
246) 
247) <li>Field agents</li>
248) 
249) <p>How much, do you imagine, would the Iraqi insurgency pay to find out
250) the location of every computer in Baghdad that logged into a military
251) server in Maryland to read email?  Tor can protect military personnel in
252) the field by hiding their location, and even by concealing the location
253) of Command and Control servers.</p>
254) 
255) <li>Hidden services</li>
256) 
257) </ul>
258) 
259) <p>When the Internet was designed by DARPA, its primary purpose was to
260) be able to facilitate distributed, robust communications in case of
261) local strikes.  However, some functions must be centralized, such as
262) command and control sites.  It's the nature of the Internet protocols to
263) reveal the geographic location of any server that is reachable online,
264) however Tor's hidden services capacity allows military command and
265) control to be physically secure from discovery and takedown.</p>
266) 
267) <h2>Law enforcement officers use Tor</h2>
268) 

269) <p>Undercover officers use Tor to conceal their IP address during

270) sting operations. “Anonymous tip lines” may still

271) preserve a log of IP addresses, if the informant isn't using Tor.</p>

272) 
273) <ul>
274) 
275) <li>online surveillance</li>
276) 
277) <p>Tor allows officials to surf questionable web sites and services
278) without leaving tell-tale tracks.  If the system administrator of an
279) illegal gambling site, for example, were to see multiple connections from
280) governmental or law enforcement computers in usage logs, investigations
281) would be hampered.</p>
282) 
283) <li>sting operations</li>
284) 
285) <p>Similarly, anonymity allows law officers to engage in online
286) &ldquo;undercover &rdquo; operations.  Regardless of how good an
287) undercover officer's &ldquo;street cred&rdquo; may be, if his or her
288) email headers include nypd.nyc.ny.state.us, his or her cover is blown.</p>
289) 
290) <li>truly anonymous tip lines</li>
291) 
292) <p>While online anonymous tip lines are popular, without anonymity
293) software, they are far less useful.  Sophisticated sources understand that
294) although a name or email address is not attached to information, server
295) logs can identify them very quickly.  As a result, tip line web sites that
296) do not encourage anonymity are limiting the sources of their tips.</p>
297) 

298) </ul>
299) 

300) <h2>Whistleblowers use Tor</h2>
301) 
302) <p>In the US, the Supreme Court recently stripped legal protections from
303) government whistleblowers.  But whistleblowers working for governmental
304) transparency or corporate accountability can use Tor to seek justice
305) without personal repercussions.</p>
306) 
307) <h2>Bloggers use Tor</h2>
308) 
309) <p>Every day we hear about bloggers who are sued or fired for saying
310) perfectly legal things online, in their blog.  In addition to following
311) the guidelines of EFF's Guide and RSF's guide, we recommend using Tor.</p>
312) 
313) <h2>Citizens of repressive regimes use Tor</h2>
314) 
315) <p>Whether to read information on censored topics (such as AIDS, Tibet,
316) or democracy), or to write about controversial topics, people inside
317) oppressive regimes can risk life and livelihood.  Tor helps cover the
318) tracks of dissidents, foreign nationals, or even just people who want
319) free accesss to information most of us take for granted.</p>
320) 
321) <h2>People organizing for change use Tor</h2>
322) 
323) <ul>
324) <li>union organizers/labor activists</li>
325) 
326) See mentions above
327) 
328) <li>democracy activists/dissidents</li>
329) 
330) See mentions above
331) 
332) <li>peace/green activists</li>
333) 
334) <p>When groups such as the Friends Service Committee and environmental
335) groups are increasingly falling under surveillance in the United States
336) under laws meant to protect against terrorism, many peaceful agents of
337) change rely on Tor for basic privacy for legitimate activities.</p>
338) 
339) </ul>
340) 
341) <h2>Business executives use Tor</h2>
342) <ul>
343) 
344) <li>security breach information clearinghouses</li>
345) 
346) <p>Say a financial institution participates in a security clearinghouse
347) of information on Internet attacks.  Such a repository requires members
348) to report breaches to a central group, who correlates attacks to detect
349) coordinated patterns and send out alerts.  But if a specific bank in
350) St. Louis is breached, they don't want an attacker watching the incoming
351) traffic to such a repository to be able to track where information is
352) coming from.  Even though every packet were encrypted, the Internet
353) address would betray the location of a compromised system.  Tor allows
354) such repositories of sensitive information to resist compromises.</p>
355) 
356) <li>seeing your competition as your market does</li>
357) 
358) <p>If you try to check out a competitor's pricing, you may find no
359) information or misleading information on their web site.  This is because
360) their web server may be keyed to detect connections from competitors,
361) and block or spread disinformation to your staff.  Tor allows a business
362) to view their sector as the general public would view it.</p>
363) 
364) <li>keeping strategies confidential</li>
365) 
366) <p>An investment bank, for example, might not want industry snoopers to be
367) able to track what web sites their analysts are watching.  The strategic
368) importance of traffic patterns, and the vulnerability of the surveillance
369) of such data, is starting to be more widely recognized in several areas
370) of the business world.</p>
371) 

372) <li>accountability</li>

373) 
374) <p>In an age when irresponsible and unreported corporate activity has
375) undermined multi-billion dollar businesses, an executive exercising true
376) stewardship wants the whole staff to feel free to disclose internal
377) malfeasance.  Tor facilitates internal accountability before it turns
378) into whistleblowing.</p>
379) 

380) </ul>
381)