Tor

20/09/2002

Tor (previously an acronym for The Onion Router) is free software for users that enables anonymity and resisting censorship. Tor directs internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network consisting of more than five thousand relays to conceal a user's location or usage from anyone. The "Onion Router" employs encryption in a multi-layered manner to ensure secrecy between relays.

Tor was originally sponsored by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and had been part of the early development of "Onion Routing" supported by DARPA. At its early development, Tor was financially supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation before being developed by the Tor Project with a diverse base of financial support; the U.S. State Department, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and the National Science Foundation are major contributors.

Tor is most commonly used to access the Deep Web.