Tor and the Average Internet User

Tor is an online browsing portal that keeps your web activity completely anonymous.

Tor is a free program that is designed to allow users to browse the Internet in complete anonymity. A long time favorite of privacy advocates, it has become more widely known as average users become increasingly aware of, and concerned with, the amount of information that the government and corporate interests alike are able to gather about them based on browsing activity.

Tor relies on a global network of anonymous relays to provide users with an online experience free of traffic analysis. In this video interview, Runa Sandvik, a Tor Project advocate, explains why it is being used more and more by everyday people.

“I think it comes down to, why would you want everything you do online to be recorded by someone else?” – Runa Sandvik, Tor Project advocate

“Normal people can use Tor to hide what they’re doing online,” Sandvik says. “When they’re visiting a website, their Internet Service Provider, the person they’re sharing their computer with, their employer or whoever else, can not see which websites they’re visiting.”

The significance of that lies in the basic desire for privacy. And while that used to apply more particularly to journalists, human-rights activists and people wishing to evade government censorship, Tor’s appeal is growing broader.

“I think it comes down to, why would you want everything you do online to be recorded by someone else?,” Sandvik says. “Why should someone be able to see what you’re doing online?”

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