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#include "head.wmi" TITLE="Tor Project: Overview" CHARSET="UTF-8"
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<a href="<page index>">Home » </a>
<a href="<page about/overview>">About » </a>
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<h2>Tor: Overview</h2>
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<h3>Topics</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="<page about/overview>#inception">Inception</a></li>
<li><a href="<page about/overview>#overview">Overview</a></li>
<li><a href="<page about/overview>#whyweneedtor">Why we need Tor</a></li>
<li><a href="<page about/overview>#thesolution">The Solution</a></li>
<li><a href="<page about/overview>#hiddenservices">Hidden services</a></li>
<li><a href="<page about/overview>#stayinganonymous">Staying anonymous</a></li>
<li><a href="<page about/overview>#thefutureoftor">The future of Tor</a></li>
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<hr>
<a name="inception"></a>
<h3><a class="anchor" href="#inception">Inception</a></h3>
<p>
Tor was originally designed, implemented, and deployed as a
third-generation <a href="http://www.onion-router.net/">onion routing
project of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory</a>. It was originally
developed with the U.S. Navy in mind, for the primary purpose of
protecting government communications. Today, it is used every day
for a wide variety of purposes by normal people, the military,
journalists, law enforcement officers, activists, and many
others. </p>
<a name="overview"></a>
<h3><a class="anchor" href="#overview">Overview</a></h3>
<p>
Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to
improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables
software developers to create new communication tools
with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for
a range of applications that allow organizations and individuals