move the first piece of the...
Roger Dingledine authored 16 years ago
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13) <ul>
14) <li><a href="#General">General questions</a></li>
15) <li><a href="#foo">Compilation and Installation</a></li>
16) <li><a href="#foo">Running Tor</a></li>
17) <li><a href="#foo">Running a Tor client</a></li>
18) <li><a href="#foo">Running a Tor relay</a></li>
19) <li><a href="#foo">Running a Tor hidden service</a></li>
20) <li><a href="#foo">What happens to my donation?</a></li>
21) </ul>
22)
23) <hr />
24)
25) <a id="General"></a>
26)
27) <a id="WhatIsTor"></a>
28) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#WhatIsTor">What is Tor?</a></h3>
29)
30) <p>
31) Tor is an anonymity network. It protects your privacy on the
32) internet. Tor uses a series of three proxies - computers (or
33) nodes) which communicate on your behalf using their own identifying
34) information - in such a way that none of them know both your identifying
35) information and your destination. Tor can also help people get around
36) restrictive firewalls which censor web content. Read the <a href="<page
37) overview>">Tor overview</a> to learn more about Tor and what it can do
38) for you.
39) </p>
40)
41) <a id="CompatibleApplications"></a>
42) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#CompatibleApplications">What programs and
43) applications work with Tor?</a></h3>
44)
45) <p>
46) Tor presents a SOCKS proxy interface to applications, so any application that
47) supports SOCKS (versions 4, 4a and 5) can be anonymized using Tor. Most
48) web browsers, many instant messaging and IRC clients, SSH clients and
49) email clients already have built-in support for SOCKS. However, not all SOCKS
50) interfaces are equal. See [#SOCKSAndDNS below] for information about how some
51) SOCKS interfaces may leak information via DNS about where you are going on the
52) internet, and how you can avoid this.
53) </p>
54)
55) <p>
56) Since Tor does not filter message content, additional software
57) agents should be used to filter content. For example, <a
58) href="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</a> is a good HTTP proxy for
59) filtering dangerous or annoying web content, such as tracking scripts
60) and ads.
61) </p>
62)
63) <p>
64) We have compiled a <a
65) href="https://wiki.torproject.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/SupportPrograms">list
66) of applications that help you direct your traffic
67) through Tor</a>, and a list of instructions for <a
68) href="https://wiki.torproject.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorifyHOWTO">Torifying
69) specific applications</a>. Please add to these lists and help us keep
70) them accurate!
71) </p>
72)
73) <a id="Volunteer"></a>
74) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Volunteer">How can I help?</a></h3>
75)
76) <p>
77) We've set up a preliminary <a href="<page volunteer>">"volunteer"
78) page</a>, which lists a few ways to help. If you have something to
79) contribute that we haven't listed there, chances are we still need it.
80) </p>
81)
82) <p>
83) There are also more answers in the <a href="#WhySlow">Why is Tor slow?</a>
84) answer and the <a href="#Funding">What we need to work on</a> answer.
85) </p>
86)
87) <a id="WhyCalledTor"></a>
88) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#WhyCalledTor">Why is it called Tor?</a></h3>
89)
90) <p>
91) Because Tor is the onion routing network. I kept telling people I was
92) working on onion routing, and they said "Neat. Which one?" Even if onion
93) routing has become a standard household term, this is the actual onion
94) routing project, started out of the Naval Research Lab.
95) </p>
96)
97) <p>
98) (Theories about recursive acronyms are ok too. It's also got a fine
99) translation into German.)
100) </p>
101)
102) <p>
103) Note: even though it comes from an acronym, Tor is not spelled "TOR".
104) Only the first letter is capitalized.
105) </p>
106)
107) <a id="Backdoor"></a>
108) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Backdoor">Is there a backdoor in Tor?</a></h3>
109)
110) <p>
111) There is absolutely no backdoor in Tor. Nobody has asked us to put one
112) in, and we know some smart lawyers who say that it's unlikely that anybody
113) will try to make us add one in our jurisdiction (U.S.). If they do
114) ask us, we will fight them, and (the lawyers say) probably win.
115) </p>
116)
117) <p>
118) We think that putting a backdoor in Tor would be tremendously
119) irresponsible to our users, and a bad precedent for security software
120) in general. If we ever put a deliberate backdoor in our security
121) software, it would ruin our professional reputations. Nobody would
122) trust our software ever again — for excellent reason!
123) </p>
124)
125) <p>
126) But that said, there are still plenty of subtle attacks
127) people might try. Somebody might impersonate us, or break into our
128) computers, or something like that. Tor is open source, and you should
129) always check the source (or at least the diffs since the last release)
130) for suspicious things. If we (or the distributors) don't give you
131) source, that's a sure sign something funny might be going on. You
132) should also check the GPG signatures on the releases, to make sure
133) nobody messed with the distribution sites.
134) </p>
135)
136) <p>
137) Also, there might be accidental bugs in Tor that could affect your
138) anonymity. We don't know of such bugs right now. If we learn of any,
139) we will let you know.
140) </p>
141)
142) <a id="DistributingTor"></a>
143) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#DistributingTor">Can I distribute Tor on
144) my magazine's CD??</a></h3>
145)
146) <p>
147) Yes.
148) </p>
149)
150) <p>
151) The Tor software is <a href="http://www.fsf.org/">free software</a>. This
152) means we give you the rights to redistribute the Tor software, either
153) modified or unmodified, either for a fee or gratis. You don't have to
154) ask us for specific permission.
155) </p>
156)
157) <p>
158) However, if you want to redistribute the Tor software you must follow our
159) <a href="https://svn.torproject.org/svn/trunk/LICENSE">LICENSE</a>.
160) Essentially this means that you need to include our LICENSE file along
161) with whatever part of the Tor software you're distributing.
162) </p>
163)
164) <p>
165) Most people who ask us this question don't want to distribute just the
166) Tor software, though. They want to distribute the Tor bundles, which
167) typically include <a href="http://www.privoxy.org/">Privoxy</a>
168) and <a href="http://www.vidalia-project.net/">Vidalia</a>.
169) You will need to follow the licenses for those programs
170) as well. Both of them are distributed under the <a
171) href="http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General
172) Public License</a>. The simplest way to obey their licenses is to
173) include the source code for these programs everywhere you include
174) the bundles themselves. Look for "source" packages on the <a
175) href="http://www.vidalia-project.net/download.php">Vidalia
176) download page</a> and the <a
177) href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=11118">Privoxy
178) download page</a>.
179) </p>
180)
181) <p>
182) Also, you should make sure not to confuse your users about what Tor is,
183) who makes it, and what properties it provides (and doesn't provide). See
184) our <a href="<page trademark-faq>">trademark FAQ</a> for details.
185) </p>
186)
187) <p>
188) Lastly, you should realize that we release new versions of the
189) Tor software frequently, and sometimes we make backward incompatible
190) changes. So if you distribute a particular version of the Tor software, it
191) may not be supported — or even work — six months later. This
192) is a fact of life for all security software under heavy development.
193) </p>
194)
195) <a id="SupportMail"></a>
196) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#SupportMail">How can I get an answer to my
197) Tor support mail?</a></h3>
198)
199) <p>
200) Many people send the Tor developers mail privately, or send mail to
201) our internal aliases like tor-webmaster, with questions about their
202) specific setup -- they can't get their firewall working right,
203) they can't configure Privoxy correctly, or so on. Sometimes our
204) volunteers can answer these mails, but typically they need to spend
205) most of their time on development tasks that will benefit more people.
206) This is especially true if your question is already covered in the <a
207) href="<page documentation>">documentation</a> or on this FAQ. We don't
208) hate you; we're just busy.
209) </p>
210)
211) <p>
212) So if we don't answer your mail, first check the <a href="<page
213) documentation>">documentation</a> page, along with this FAQ,
214) to make sure your question isn't already answered. Then read <a
215) href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html">"How to ask
216) questions the smart way"</a>. If this doesn't help you, note that we
217) have <a href="<page documentation>#Support">an IRC channel</a> where you
218) can ask your questions (but if they are still open-ended, ill-formed,
219) or not about Tor, you likely won't get much help there either). Lastly,
220) people on the <a href="<page documentation>#MailingLists">or-talk
221) mailing list</a> may be able to provide some hints for you, if
222) others have experienced your problems too. Be sure to look over <a
223) href="http://archives.seul.org/or/talk/">the archives</a> first.
224) </p>
225)
226) <p>
227) Another strategy is to <a href="<page docs/tor-doc-relay>">run a Tor
228) relay for a while</a>, and/or <a href="<page donate>">donate money</a>
229) <a href="<page volunteer>">or time</a> to the effort. We're more likely
230) to pay attention to people who have demonstrated interest and commitment
231) to giving back to the Tor community.
232) </p>
233)
234) <p>
235) If you find an answer, please stick around on the IRC channel or the
236) mailing list and answer questions from others.
237) </p>
238)
239) <a id="WhySlow"></a>
240) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#WhySlow">Why is Tor so slow?</a></h3>
241)
242) <p>
243) There are many reasons why the Tor network is currently slow.
244) </p>
245)
246) <p>
247) Before we answer, though, you should realize that Tor is never going to
248) be blazing fast. Your traffic is bouncing through volunteers' computers
249) in various parts of the world, and some bottlenecks and network latency
250) will always be present. You shouldn't expect to see university-style
251) bandwidth through Tor.
252) </p>
253)
254) <p>
255) But that doesn't mean that it can't be improved. The current Tor network
256) is quite small compared to the number of people trying to use it, and
257) many of these users don't understand or care that Tor can't currently
258) handle file-sharing traffic load.
259) </p>
260)
261) <p>
262) What can you do to help?
263) </p>
264)
265) <ul>
266)
267) <li>
268) <a href="<page docs/tor-doc-relay>">Configure your Tor to relay traffic
269) for others</a>. Help make the Tor network large enough that we can handle
270) all the users who want privacy and security on the Internet.
271) </li>
272)
273) <li>
274) <a href="<page gui/index>">Help us make Tor more usable</a>. We
275) especially need people to help make it easier to configure your Tor
276) as a relay. Also, we need help with clear simple documentation to
277) walk people through setting it up.
278) </li>
279)
280) <li>
281) There are some bottlenecks in the current Tor network. Help us design
282) experiments to track down and demonstrate where the problems are, and
283) then we can focus better on fixing them.
284) </li>
285)
286) <li>
287) There are some steps that individuals
288) can take to improve their Tor performance. <a
289) href="https://wiki.torproject.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/FireFoxTorPerf">You
290) can configure your Firefox to handle Tor better</a>, <a
291) href="http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/polipo/tor.html">you can use
292) Polipo with Tor</a>, or you can try <a href="<page download>">upgrading
293) to the latest version of Tor</a>. If this works well, please help by
294) documenting what you did, and letting us know about it.
295) </li>
296)
297) <li>
298) Tor needs some architectural changes too. One important change is to
299) start providing <a href="#EverybodyARelay">better service to people who
300) relay traffic</a>. We're working on this, and we'll finish faster if we
301) get to spend more time on it.
302) </li>
303)
304) <li>
305) Help do other things so we can do the hard stuff. Please take a moment
306) to figure out what your skills and interests are, and then <a href="<page
307) volunteer>">look at our volunteer page</a>.
308) </li>
309)
310) <li>
311) Help find sponsors for Tor. Do you work at a company or government agency
312) that uses Tor or has a use for Internet privacy, e.g. to browse the
313) competition's websites discreetly, or to connect back to the home servers
314) when on the road without revealing affiliations? If your organization has
315) an interest in keeping the Tor network working, please contact them about
316) supporting Tor. Without sponsors, Tor is going to become even slower.
317) </li>
318)
319) <li>
320) If you can't help out with any of the above, you can still help out
321) individually by <a href="<page donate>">donating a bit of money to the
322) cause</a>. It adds up!
323) </li>
324)
325) </ul>
326)
327) <a id="Funding"></a>
328) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#Funding">What would the Tor project do with
329) more funding?</a></h3>
330)
331) <p>
332) We have about 1500 relays right now, pushing over 150 MB/s average
333) traffic. We have several hundred thousand active users. But the Tor
334) network is not yet self-sustaining.
335) </p>
336)
337) <p>
338) There are six main development/maintenance pushes that need attention:
339) </p>
340)
341) <ul>
342)
343) <li>
344) Scalability: We need to keep scaling and decentralizing the Tor
345) architecture so it can handle thousands of relays and millions of
346) users. The upcoming stable release is a major improvement, but there's
347) lots more to be done next in terms of keeping Tor fast and stable.
348) </li>
349)
350) <li>
351) User support: With this many users, a lot of people are asking questions
352) all the time, offering to help out with things, and so on. We need good
353) clean docs, and we need to spend some effort coordinating volunteers.
354) </li>
355)
356) <li>
357) Relay support: the Tor network is run by volunteers, but they still need
358) attention with prompt bug fixes, explanations when things go wrong,
359) reminders to upgrade, and so on. The network itself is a commons, and
360) somebody needs to spend some energy making sure the relay operators stay
361) happy. We also need to work on <a href="#RelayOS">stability</a> on some
362) platforms — e.g., Tor relays have problems on Win XP currently.
363) </li>
364)
365) <li>
366) Usability: Beyond documentation, we also need to work on usability of the
367) software itself. This includes installers, clean GUIs, easy configuration
368) to interface with other applications, and generally automating all of
369) the difficult and confusing steps inside Tor. We've got a start on this
370) with the <a href="<page gui/index>">GUI Contest</a>, but much more work
371) remains — usability for privacy software has never been easy.
372) </li>
373)
374) <li>
375) Incentives: We need to work on ways to encourage people to configure
376) their Tors as relays and exit nodes rather than just clients.
377) <a href="#EverybodyARelay">We need to make it easy to become a relay,
378) and we need to give people incentives to do it.</a>
379) </li>
380)
381) <li>
382) Research: The anonymous communications field is full
383) of surprises and gotchas. In our copious free time, we
384) also help run top anonymity and privacy conferences like <a
385) href="http://petsymposium.org/">PETS</a>. We've identified a set of
386) critical <a href="<page volunteer>#Research">Tor research questions</a>
387) that will help us figure out how to make Tor secure against the variety of
388) attacks out there. Of course, there are more research questions waiting
389) behind these.
390) </li>
391)
392) </ul>
393)
394) <p>
395) We're continuing to move forward on all of these, but at this rate
396) <a href="#WhySlow">the Tor network is growing faster than the developers
397) can keep up</a>.
398) Now would be an excellent time to add a few more developers to the effort
399) so we can continue to grow the network.
400) </p>
401)
402) <p>
403) We are also excited about tackling related problems, such as
404) censorship-resistance.
405) </p>
406)
407) <p>
408) We are proud to have <a href="<page sponsors>">sponsorship and support</a>
409) from the Omidyar Network, the International Broadcasting Bureau, Bell
410) Security Solutions, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, several government
411) agencies and research groups, and hundreds of private contributors.
412) </p>
413)
414) <p>
415) However, this support is not enough to keep Tor abreast of changes in the
416) Internet privacy landscape. Please <a href="<page donate>">donate</a>
417) to the project, or <a href="<page contact>">contact</a> our executive
418) director for information on making grants or major donations.
419) </p>
420)
421)
422) <hr />
423)
424) <a id="question"></a>
425) <h3><a class="anchor" href="#question">Question?</a></h3>
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Move website to wml
eventually i might put some...