Tor Browser is Stable on Android, Mozilla Research, Season of Docs, Events
Tor Browser is Stable on Android
Since we released the first alpha version of Tor Browser for Android in September, we've been hard at work making sure we can provide the protections users already enjoying on desktop to the Android platform. Mobile browsing is increasing around the world, and in some parts, it is commonly the only way people access the internet. In these same areas, there is often heavy surveillance and censorship online, so we made it a priority to reach these users with a mobile Tor Browser release. The stable version of Tor Browser for Android is now available for download from Google Play, F-Droid, and our website:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.torproject.torbrowser
We made sure there are no proxy bypasses, that first-party isolation is enabled to protect you from cross-site tracking, and that most of the fingerprinting defenses are working. While there are still feature gaps between the desktop and Android Tor Browser, we are confident that Tor Browser for Android provides essentially the same protections that can be found on desktop platforms. These protections are unmatched by any other browser.
The latest version of Tor Browser across all platforms also features UX and branding improvements in line with developments begun last year with the release of Tor Browser 8: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-85
As always, we rely on feedback to improve our software. So if you have any suggestions or find a bug, please let us know: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/community/HowToReportBugFeedback
Mozilla Research Call: Tune up Tor for Integration and Scale
What alternative protocol architectures and route selection protocols would offer acceptable gains in Tor performance? Would they preserve Tor properties? Is it possible to improve Tor performance without changing protocols? Is it truly possible to deploy Tor at scale? And what would the full integration of Tor and Firefox look like? Those are some of the questions that Mozilla is calling researchers to answer in the privacy & security part of their Mozilla Research Grants program.
Integrating Tor into Firefox would bring real private browsing and a safer internet experience to an unprecedented number of people around the world. But Tor has never been deployed at this scale, and there are a lot of considerations to research before Mozilla gives this a try.
Find out more about the areas needing research and how you can apply. The deadline for applications is May 31: https://blog.torproject.org/mozilla-research-call-tune-tor-integration-and-scale
Google Season of Docs 2019: Help Tor Improve Our Documentation
There are a few elements that are critical for the sustainability of an open source project. One of them is good documentation.
Although often neglected, documentation can be crucial for open source projects to provide meaningful guides on how to start contributing and guides on the architecture of the technology being developed.
These resources help not only newcomers and contributors to understand the technological aspects of a project but can also expose both decision making and work processes, outlining the best way to contribute.
This year Google has launched Season of Docs, and we've been accepted as a mentoring organization. The program runs for approximately 3 months from September to November 2019 and there is additionally the option of a "long-running project" which goes on for approximately 5 months, from September 2019 to February 2020.
We\'re a small nonprofit organization that develops free and open source software used by millions around the world, and our community of contributors and users would greatly benefit from improved documentation. If you can help us out, learn more about how to apply: https://blog.torproject.org/google-season-docs-2019-help-tor-improve-our-documentation
New Releases
Tor Browser 8.5 After months of work and including feedback from our users, Tor Browser 8.5 includes our first stable release for Android plus many new features across platforms. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-85
Tor Browser 8.5a12 This is an alpha release, an experimental version for users who want to help us test new features. This release fixes the issue which caused NoScript and all other Firefox extensions signed by Mozilla to be disabled. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-85a12
Tor 0.4.0.5 This is the first stable release in the 0.4.0.x series. It contains improvements for power management and bootstrap reporting, as well as preliminary backend support for circuit padding to prevent some kinds of traffic analysis. It also continues our work in refactoring Tor for long-term maintainability. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-0405
Upcoming Events with Tor
RightsCon. Tunis, Tunisia. 11-14 June, 2019. https://rightscon.org
Congresso Abraji. Sao Paulo, Brasil. 27-29 June, 2019. https://congresso.abraji.org.br/
PETS. Stockholm, Sweden. 16-20 July, 2019. https://petsymposium.org/2019/index.php
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure. https://donate.torproject.org
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject
Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject
Instagram: https://instagram.com/torproject
Mastodon: http://mastodon.social/@torproject
Advocating for Anonymity, Bandwidth Scanners, Tor Metrics, Events
Advocating for Anonymity in Mozilla's 2019 Internet Health Report
Mozilla released its third annual examination of the internet, its impact on society and how it influences our everyday lives. The report includes a feature on Tor, In defense of anonymity, calling out the benefits of Tor software for upholding civil liberties:
"Our ability to communicate, work, and learn on the internet free from the glare of others enables very good things to happen."
Check out the feature: https://internethealthreport.org/2019/in-defense-of-anonymity/
You can help us continue to defend anonymity by making a donation to help us keep Tor robust and secure: https://donate.torproject.org
How Bandwidth Scanners Monitor The Tor Network
The Tor network is comprised of thousands of volunteer-run relays around the world, and millions of people rely on it for privacy and freedom online everyday. To monitor the Tor network's performance, detect attacks on it, and better distribute load across the network, we employ what we call Tor bandwidth scanners.
Tor relays report their own bandwidth based on the traffic they have sent and received. But this reported bandwidth is not verified by other relays. Bandwidth scanners help verify relay bandwidths. They also provide some initial traffic to new relays, so those relays can report a useful amount of bandwidth.
Learn more about our bandwidth scanners, recent updates to them, and how we'd like them to improve.
https://blog.torproject.org/how-bandwidth-scanners-monitor-tor-network
Collecting, Aggregating, and Presenting Data from The Tor Network
As the makers of software dedicated to privacy and freedom online, Tor must take special precautions when collecting data to ensure the privacy of its users while ensuring the integrity of its services.
Tor Metrics is the central mechanism that the Tor Project uses to evaluate the functionality and ongoing relevance of its technologies. Tor Metrics consists of several services that work together to collect, aggregate, and present data from the Tor network and related services. We're always looking for ways to improve, and we recently completed a project to document our pipeline and identify areas that could benefit from modernization. Read more about the project: https://blog.torproject.org/collecting-aggregating-and-presenting-data-tor-network
New Releases
Tor 0.4.0.4-rc
This is the first release candidate in its series; it fixes several bugs from earlier versions, including some that had affected stability, and one that prevented relays from working with NSS. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-0404-rc
Upcoming Events with Tor
CryptoRave. Sao Paulo, Brazil. 3-4 May, 2019. https://cryptorave.org/
RightsCon. Tunis, Tunisia. 11-14 June, 2019. https://rightscon.org
PETS. Stockholm, Sweden. 16-20 July, 2019. https://petsymposium.org/2019/index.php
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure. https://donate.torproject.org
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject Instagram: https://instagram.com/torproject Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@torproject
Meet The New TorProject.org
Meet The New TorProject.org
Two years ago, we launched our styleguide[1] as our first step in creating a consistent visual look and feel across the entire Tor Project ecosystem. We are very happy to announce the launch of our brand new website[2].
Besides bringing more consistency to our visual look, which reinforces community identity and helps us to build user trust by identification, our new website is one part of our goal to ensure that everyone on the planet can use Tor. Last year, we worked hard on making important usability improvements to our browser[3], including bringing a version of it to Android[4].
But, it is through our homepage that most people first learn about Tor and decide to download our browser. And our previous site was doing a poor job at helping potential users understand what Tor was all about. We had way too much information for a person to consume, and none of it was localized. With that in mind, we decided to redesign our website to focus on new users and make it mobile-friendly. Most importantly with our new website, we want Tor Browser to be easy to download and its benefits easy to understand. Most importantly with our new website, we want Tor Browser to be easy to download and its benefits easy to understand.
We want to make sure that people around the world, using Tor in an array of contexts, can use Tor without barriers. Tor Browser itself is available in 24 different languages, but our website isn't. With this refresh, torproject.org is now available in 7 different languages: English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian, and there are more on the way. If you would like to help us with translations, here's how[5].
In addition to this update, we are also better organizing all the other content into different portals. For instance, last year we launched our support portal[6] to host all the content related to user support. Coming next will be our community.torproject.org portal that will feature content related to the different ways you can join our community and spread the word about Tor. The portal for all of our free software projects will soon be dev.torproject.org. If you are looking for any content that existed in the old site and is not on the new one, you can access it here[7].
These efforts are taking the collaboration of many people across Tor teams and the help of dedicated volunteers. We're very proud to start rolling these changes out.
We are a group of people united by the belief that everyone should have private access to the open web, and we hope our new site makes that easier to achieve.
[1]https://styleguide.torproject.org [2]https://torproject.org [3]https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-80 [4]https://blog.torproject.org/new-alpha-release-tor-browser-android [5]https://wiki.localizationlab.org/index.php/Tor [6]https://support.torproject.org [7]https://2019.www.torproject.org/
We Now Accept Donations in Multiple Cryptocurrencies
You can now donate several different types of cryptocurrencies to the Tor Project: Augur (REP), Bitcoin (XBT), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Dash (DASH), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Monero (XMR), Stellar Lumen (XLM), Dogecoin (XDG), and Zcash (ZEC). https://donate.torproject.org/cryptocurrency
Donations from individuals like you, whether they be in cryptocurrency or not, make it possible for us to allocate funds to pressing projects not covered by grants, such as the launch of our new website.
Donate today to help keep Tor robust and secure and to ensure we can continue to make Tor more accessible to people around the world: https://donate.torproject.org
New Releases
Tor Browser 8.0.8 The main change in this new release is the update of Firefox to 60.6.1esr, fixing bugs found during the Pwn2Own contest. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-808
Tor Browser 8.5a10 This release features important security updates to Firefox. The main change in this new release is the update of Firefox to 60.6.1esr. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-85a10
Tor 0.4.0.3-alpha This release is the third in its series; it fixes several small bugs from earlier versions. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-0403-alpha
Upcoming Events with Tor
- Internet Freedom Festival. Valencia, Spain. 1-5 April, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/internet-freedom-festival-valencia
- RightsCon. Tunis, Tunisia. 11-14 June, 2019. https://rightscon.org
- PETS. Stockholm, Sweden. 16-20 July, 2019. https://petsymposium.org/2019/index.php
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure. https://donate.torproject.org
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject Instagram: https://instagram.com/torproject\
Tor Stories, Sharing Files Over Tor, New Releases, Events
What is Your Tor Story?
Last September, we asked to hear stories about how Tor has helped protect people online.
We heard from a father protecting his kids and their friends with Tor.
"I am a father of two teenagers. As teenagers, they, or their friends , are bumping into issues regarding sex, drugs and social media issues and bullying. They are pretty open about many issues and so I try to be up to date with research, information and details if anything arises. I use Tor to do the research to basically avoid telling Google (and others) that my children have these issues. It would be unethical of any parent NOT to do so and expose their children's issues to these corporations. I also encourage my children to use Tor for their research for the same reasons..."
We heard how Tor grants access to blocked resources online in Iran.
"I live in Iran and I have been using Tor for censorship circumvention. During political unrest while the government tightens grip on other censorship circumvention alternatives, Tor with obfuscation plugins remain the only solution. Tor changed my personal life in many ways. It made it possible to access information on YouTube, Twitter, Blogger, and countless other sites. I am grateful to the Tor Project, people working on it, as well as people running Tor nodes."
We heard from someone using Tor to research transgender issues and access a site blocked by their network.
"I am transgender and sometimes look thing up on Tor about that. When I was in high school I also used it to access blocked sites like the Internet Wayback Machine."
We heard from an activist who relies on Tor to stay safe.
"I'm a political activist, part of a semi-criminalized minority. In my younger years I entered the public debate openly, and as a result got harassed by government agencies. I later tried to obfuscate my identity, but I found that my government has surprisingly broad powers to track down dissidents. Only by using anonymizing means, among which Tor is key, can I get my message out without having police come to "check my papers" in the middle of the night. Tor allows me freedom to publish my message to the world without being personally persecuted for it. Being a dissident is hard enough, privacy is already heavily curtailed, so anonymized communication is a godsend."
What is your Tor story? Have you used Tor to curtail surveillance, circumvent censorship, conduct research, cope with an abuser, or speak up about corruption? If any of these apply to you or if you have another story to share, please let us know. Because of our deep commitment to protect your privacy, we wonât know your story unless you tell us. Your story can help us make Tor better for you and other people around the world who need it most: https://blog.torproject.org/how-has-tor-helped-you-send-us-your-story
Share Files Over Tor with OnionShare 2
OnionShare is an open source tool for securely and anonymously sending and receiving files using Tor onion services. It works by starting a web server directly on your computer and making it accessible as an unguessable Tor web address that others can load in Tor Browser to download files from you, or upload files to you. It doesn't require setting up a separate server, using a third party file-sharing service, or even logging into an account.
Unlike services like email, Google Drive, DropBox, WeTransfer, or nearly any other way people typically send files to each other, when you use OnionShare you don't give any companies access to the files that you're sharing. So long as you share the unguessable web address in a secure way (like pasting it in an encrypted messaging app), no one but you and the person you're sharing with can access your files.
I first saw the need for this tool when I learned about how David Miranda, the partner of my colleague Glenn Greenwald, got detained for nine hours at a London airport while he was trying to fly home to Brazil. Working on a journalism assignment for the Guardian, Miranda was carrying a USB stick with sensitive documents. I knew that he could have securely sent the documents over the internet using a Tor onion service, one of the most underappreciated technologies on the internet, and avoided the risk of physically traveling with them. I developed OnionShare to make this file sharing process over the Tor network more accessible to everyone.
After nearly a year of work from a growing community of developers, designers, and translators, I'm excited that OnionShare 2 is finally ready. You can download it from https://onionshare.org.
Learn more about OnionShare and its new features: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-onionshare-2
New Releases
Tor Browser 8.0.6
The main change in this new release is the update of Firefox to 60.5.1esr. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-806
Tor Browser 8.5a8
The main change in this new release is the update of Firefox to 60.5.1esr, fixing some vulnerabilities in the Skia library. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-85a8
Tor 0.4.0.2-alpha, 0.3.5.8, 0.3.4.11, and 0.3.3.12
These new source code releases all fix TROVE-2019-001. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-releases-tor-0402-alpha-0358-03411-and-03312
Upcoming Events with Tor
Nullcon. Goa, India. 1-3 March, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/nullcon-goa
LibrePlanet. Boston, USA. 23-24 March, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/libreplanet-boston
KNOW Conference. Las Vegas, USA. 24-27 March, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/know-2019-vegas-0
Internet Freedom Festival. Valencia, Spain. 1-5 April, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/internet-freedom-festival-valencia
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure.
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject
Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject
Instagram: https://instagram.com/torproject
Expect More from Tor in 2019
Expect More from Tor in 2019
The Tor Project achieved a lot in the last year. We spent 2018 fighting for the fundamental human rights to privacy and freedom online and made our software more accessible than ever before.
In the last year, a significant shift took place in the public understanding of how big tech handles our sensitive, personal information, and how these companies build tools that further censorship in repressive places. For instance, Googleâs leaked plans to launch a censored search engine in China were met with global protest. The world is watching.
At the Tor Project, this is an important moment in time. More people are looking for solutions to effectively protect their privacy. 93% of the people we met doing 1:1 usability studies said they knew they needed some protection online. More people need robust censorship circumvention tools as internet freedom declines around the world. More people understand the risks that come from surveillance as the business model of the internet. And we have been working hard to make Tor more accessible than ever before with the goal that anyone online can enjoy the protections our software provides.
In 2018, we:
Gave Tor Browser a UX overhaul with the launch of Tor Browser 8.0, making it easier and friendlier to use than ever.
Made it easier for people in countries that censor the internet and censor Tor to circumvent censorship with the ability to fetch bridges from inside Tor Browser.
Localized Tor Browser into 9 previously unsupported languages, bringing the number of available languages to 25.
Launched the alpha version of Tor Browser for Android.
Improved our Core Tor code for mobile devices, optimizing its performances and making it easier for third party mobile apps to embed Tor.
Traveled to meet our users face-to-face and get feedback without using popular and invasive data-collection practices.
Improved the security of v3 onion services with the vanguards add-on.
Published 10 research reports through OONI on censorship and network disruptions happening around the world.
Pulled in a record number of donations as we reduced our reliance on government funding. We received donations from 115 countries around the world.
Said goodbye to Shari Steele, who helped usher the Tor Project into a new stage of organizational maturity, and welcomed our new Executive Director, Isabela Bagueros.
These developments, plus the reality of threats everyone faces online, make 2019 the year to try Tor.
Find out what you can expect from us this year: https://blog.torproject.org/expect-more-tor-2019
Tor Browser at TPL: Defending Intellectual Freedom, and Winning Awards Doing So
Guest post by Jonathon Hodge, Digital Literacy Service Lead, Toronto Public Library
Every public library worker will know that person: the one who is worried about being spied on.
For a long time in public libraries, that person was treated with the kindness and respect we treat every person, regardless of whether we felt that their concerns may have been overblown. The difference between that bygone past and today, is that today, that person is right! The internet is spying on them; itâs spying on all of us. Even if we donât use it very much. Public libraries have long offered effective guidance to the wealth of information society produces. So the question today is, âAre we doing enough for âthat personâ, and by extension, for all of us?â
In Toronto, we felt that the answer was NO. Our communities let us know that they do not know enough about the actual threats they contend with on the internet, they do not know what tools to use or actions to take to protect themselves.
Public librarians can do a great deal to arm our users with the knowledge, the tools, and the confidence to navigate the surveillance society online. We in Toronto felt that Tor Browser should be the centerpiece of a multi-vector Digital Privacy Initiative, that combines privacy education, and technology training and providing privacy-enabling tools at the point of service.
With the software being easy to install and maintain, and with a new public appetite for secure technology, I would encourage other public libraries to install Tor Browser. Our professional defense of intellectual freedom can no longer exist only at the realm of policy. In this age when our tech spies on us for the sake of massive internet companies and the State, our defense must be a technological one as well. That tech is Tor.
Find out more about TPL's initiative: https://blog.torproject.org/tor-browser-tpl-defending-intellectual-freedom-and-winning-awards-doing-so
New Releases
Tor Browser 8.0.5 This new release updates Firefox to 60.5.0esr and Tor to the first stable release in the 0.3.5 series, 0.3.5.7. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-805
Tor 0.4.01-alpha This is the first release in the new 0.4.0.x series. It introduces improved features for power and bandwidth conservation, more accurate reporting of bootstrap progress for user interfaces, and an experimental backend for an exciting new adaptive padding feature. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-0401-alpha
Tor 0.3.5.7 The Tor 0.3.5 series includes several new features and performance improvements, including client authorization for v3 onion services, cleanups to bootstrap reporting, support for improved bandwidth- measurement tools, experimental support for NSS in place of OpenSSL, and much more. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-releases-tor-0357-03410-and-03311
Upcoming Events with Tor
FOSDEM. Brussels, Belgium. 2-3 February, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/fosdem-brussels Tor Meetup. Berlin, Germany. 2 February, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/tor-meetup-berlin IT Defense. Stuttgart, Germany. 6-8 February, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/it-defense-stuttgart LibrePlanet. Boston, USA. 23-24 March, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/libreplanet-boston KNOW Conference. Las Vegas, USA. 24-27 March, 2019. https://blog.torproject.org/events/know-2019-vegas-0
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure. https://donate.torproject.org
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject Instagram: https://instagram.com/torproject
Invasive Data, The Tor Ecosystem, Localization, LFI, New Releases
We're nearing the end of our year-end education and fundraising campaign, Strength in Numbers. Learn more about it or support our work: https://torproject.org/donate/donate-sin-tn3
Usable Tools Don't Need To Be Invasive
Usability is about making sure anyone, no matter their technical background, can use a tool. Usability and user experience (UX) work has gained a lot of importance in the last decade as the tech industry has grown. To improve user experience, most of the tech industry relies on analyzing their users\'92 behavioral data to drive decision making. Mechanisms for collecting this data are often invasive and performed without consent from users, who may never be told their behavior is being analyzed for this purpose. The same means used to collect behavioral data is also responsible for aiding the surveillance economy.
Tor does things differently. We refuse to collect this type of invasive data. Find out what we do instead: https://blog.torproject.org/strength-numbers-usable-tools-dont-need-be-invasive
An Entire Ecosystem Relies on Tor
If the Tor Project, the Tor network, and Tor Browser were to disappear, what would happen? Not only would millions of global, daily users lose access to Tor\'92s software, but the diverse ecosystem of privacy, security, and anti-censorship applications that rely on the Tor network would cease to function.
The same network and technologies that allow you to use the internet anonymously power the anonymity, circumvention, and privacy features of many third-party web browsers, communications apps, secure operating systems, monitoring tools, and file sharing apps.
Learn about the many vital anonymity and privacy applications that rely on the Tor network and technologies: https://blog.torproject.org/strength-numbers-entire-ecosystem-relies-tor
The Internet Freedom Movement Must Be Localized
The aim of localization is much broader than just translating strings of words. To localize an application means to ensure that the application stays relevant in the local context, is understandable, and is usable.
English is the most common language used on the internet. People communicating in other languages have it harder.
We don\'92t want language differences to be a barrier to using tools that protect people from tracking, surveillance, and censorship on the web.
We made big improvements this year on our mission to localize Tor software for everyone who needs it: Tor Browser now supports 25 languages, and 4 additional languages are supported in alpha; we started tweeting more often in languages besides English; we published additional subtitles for the Tor Animation; we have better statistics about our language support; and we are working on localizing our user support website and the Tor Browser User Manual, with more languages added every month.
Find out what's next in our mission to localize Tor tools and resources: https://blog.torproject.org/strength-numbers-internet-freedom-movement-must-be-localized
Library Freedom Institute Applications Are Open
This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for librarians who want to take their privacy advocacy to the next level. Tell your radical librarian friends to apply for LFI. Though tailored to public and community college librarians, LFI is open to librarians from all types of libraries, and it is completely free: https://libraryfreedomproject.org/lfi/
New Releases
Tor 0.3.5.6-rc This release fixes numerous small bugs in earlier versions of Tor. It is the first release candidate in the 0.3.5.x series; if no further huge bugs are found, our next release may be the stable 0.3.5.x. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-0356-rc
Tor Browser 8.0.4 Tor Browser 8.0.4 contains updates to Tor (0.3.4.9), OpenSSL (1.0.2q) and other bundle components. Additionally, we backported a number of patches from our alpha series where they got some baking time including a defense against protocol handler enumeration to enhance our fingerprinting resistance. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-804
Tor Browser 8.5a6 This release features important security updates to Firefox and updates OpenSSL to 1.0.2q for our desktop platforms. The most exciting news, however, compared to the alpha release early last week, comes from progress we made on our mobile builds. Tor Browser 8.5a6 is the first version that is built reproducibly for Android devices and is localized in all locales the desktop platforms support. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-85a6
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure. Mozilla is matching every donation through 2018. https://torproject.org/donate/donate-sin-tn1
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject Instagram: https://instagram.com/torproject\
New Board Member, Internet Freedom Threats, Events, New Releases
We're in the middle of our year-end education and fundraising campaign, Strength in Numbers. Learn more about it or support our work: https://torproject.org/donate/donate-sin-tn2
Growing Our Board of Directors
Like most nonprofit organizations, the Tor Project relies on its Board of Directors to provide fiscal and corporate oversight to our important work. Over the past two years, the Tor Project has been focused on growing our board to reflect the diversity of cultures of people who build and use Tor.
We are proud to welcome the newest member of our Board of Directors, Nighat Dad. Nighat is the founder and Executive Director of Digital Rights Foundation, Pakistan. She is an accomplished lawyer and human rights activist, and she is one of the pioneers campaigning for access to a safe and open internet in Pakistan. Watch her TED talk to hear the amazing story of how she set up Pakistan's first cyber harassment helpline to support women who face serious threats online--a major problem in Pakistan: https://www.ted.com/talks/nighat_dad_how_pakistani_women_are_taking_the_internet_back
\'93Nighat brings an abundance of expertise and experience campaigning for digital rights in Pakistan and beyond,\'94 said Isabela Bagueros, Executive Director of the Tor Project. \'93She has strong ties to the communities we serve and our most at-risk users.\'94
Our board has eight members representing four continents: North America, Europe, Africa, and now Asia. Over the past year, the board held 16 official meetings plus several committee meetings during our searches for a new Executive Director and new board members.
In the coming year, we hope to continue to grow our board in number and in diversity. Like everyone involved with Tor, our Board of Directors all share a common commitment to internet freedom and human rights.
As we challenge major threats to internet freedom around the world, there is strength in numbers -- our numbers keep us strong as we challenge those threats. And our diversity gives us the understanding to fight with compassion.
Internet Freedom Is on the Line
The Tor Project believes that everyone should have private access to an uncensored web, but digital authoritarianism is on the rise. For the 8th year in a row, internet freedom has declined around the world, including in the United States.
"Of the 65 countries assessed, 26 have been on an overall decline since June 2017," reveals a new report by Freedom House: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/freedom-net-2018
A huge factor in this decline is government censorship, a growing problem in many countries. Freedom to publish, share, and access information online is critical for a healthy society, yet governments and entities around the world are denying people this universal human right, and their tactics for doing so are becoming more advanced.
In many countries around the world, people are only permitted to access state-sponsored news, where the stories always spin a nation's government and leadership in favorable lights.
Internet controls in China have reached new extremes, and China is exporting its methods to other governments. China, Egypt, Iran, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Turkey, and a few other countries now block the Tor network.
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy: you can help us make the network faster and more decentralized by running a relay. https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
You can learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
If you want to make a contribution but donât have the time to volunteer, your donation will help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure: https://donate.torproject.org
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject
Newbie Reflections, Mozilla's Match, Events
Reflections From a Tor Meeting Newbie
When I joined the Tor Project in July as Fundraising Director, I quickly learned that most questions I had about Tor'97what it does, its history, what makes up the greater ecosystem, even detailed notes from all past meetings'97can be found online. The beauty of a free and open source culture became apparent to me immediately. I learned this month at my first meeting in Mexico City that there is one aspect of Tor that cannot be encapsulated in documentation'97the people.
I heard many voices at the meeting reflect on how the Tor Project has grown and changed in positive ways over the past few years. Without a doubt, this is a testament to the quality of the people working on Tor and the values we share. These values'97knowledge, engagement, inclusivity, collaboration, and fluidity'97were apparent throughout my five days in Mexico.
The people of Tor'97staff, volunteers, friends, and community partners'97are not only knowledgeable about privacy and security, they are citizens of the world and are eager to talk about philosophy, politics, and the ways in which people interact with systems and power. Without exception, the attendees of every session I went to were attentive and engaged.
The people of Tor are intentional about making everyone feel welcome and valued. From adherence to preferred pronouns to making sessions accessible to non-English speakers, these efforts to enhance accessibility could be seen and felt everywhere. Each session began with a reminder to make space for all types of people to speak and be heard. Although I was meeting most of the attendees for the first time, I was welcomed with open arms and never once felt excluded.
This meeting was inspirational in its engagement of local attendees on the public days. Many sessions were led in English and Spanish, including the State of the Onion address. Members of Tor teams, including myself, talked about what they'92d been up to and what was on the horizon, and we took questions from the group. The questions were intimate and thoughtful, and this opening session set an inclusive and collaborative tone for the public days.
I have never witnessed collaboration be so effective and efficient. People who have been working on Tor since the very beginning shared a space at the table with community members and people who were just hired. Roadmaps were created and new ideas were hatched.
Everyone I met was genuinely happy to be there. Old friends and new laughed, shared stories, and during the midweek party, we toasted mezcal and compared dance moves. People also connected through games of Mario Kart and Magic the Gathering.
All of these values coalesce around the ultimate goal of Tor'97making the world a better place. Essential human rights cannot be achieved without private and safe access to the internet. The work we do at Tor saves lives. Meeting our Tor community in Mexico City energized me and made me proud of the small part I play in this essential work.
Mozilla Is Matching All Donations to Tor
We have a bold mission: to take a stand against invasive and restrictive online practices and bring privacy and freedom to internet users around the world. But we can'92t do it alone.
Your support, along with the support of many others, can ensure the Tor Project'92s success into the future. Mozilla has already joined us in our fight and will be matching all donations until the end of the year.
This year, with your support, we can:
Increase the capacity, modularization, and scalability of the Tor network, making improvements and integrations into other privacy and circumvention tools easier and more reliable;
Better test for, measure, and design solutions around internet censorship, allowing people around the world living under repressive governments to access the open web safely and privately; and
Strengthen our development of Tor Browser for Android, now in alpha, and make sure it'92s in tip top shape to reach the rising number of people around the world who only access the internet from a mobile device that may have low bandwidth and a costly connection.
As part of our year end fundraising campaign, Mozilla will be matching every dollar donated to Tor, so your impact will be doubled.
Donate: https://torproject.org/donate/donate-sin-tn1
Make a donation today, and you can be counted as one of the stakeholders bringing safe and private internet access to people worldwide.
New Releases
Tor Browser 8.0.3 Tor Browser 8.0.3 includes newer NoScript and HTTPS Everywhere versions. Moreover, it ships with a donation banner for our end of the year campaign and includes another round of smaller fixes for Tor Browser 8 issues on Linux systems. We also switched to a newer API for our NoScript <-> Torbutton communication, which we need for the Security Slider. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-803
Tor Browser 8.5a4 Highlights in Tor Browser 8.5a4 are a new Tor alpha version, 0.3.5.3-alpha, a fixed layout of our macOS installer window and Stylo (Mozilla's new CSS engine) being enabled on macOS after fixing a reproducibility issues. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-85a4
Tor 0.3.5.3-alpha Tor 0.3.5.3-alpha fixes several bugs, mostly from previous 0.3.5.x versions. One important fix for relays addresses a problem with rate- limiting code from back in 0.3.4.x: If the fix works out, we'll be backporting it soon.Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-0353-alpha
Upcoming Events with Tor
Internet Freedom Hack. Brisbane. November 9-11, 2018. https://blog.torproject.org/events/internet-freedom-hack-brisbane
Anonymous Browsing with Tor. Toronto Public Library. November 14, 2018. https://blog.torproject.org/events/anonymous-browsing-tor-toronto-public-library
GNU Health CON. Los Palmas, Spain. November 23-25, 2018. https://blog.torproject.org/events/gnu-health-con-los-palmas-spain
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure: https://torproject.org/donate/donate-sin-tn1
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject
Tor Browser for Android (alpha), We're Hiring, Share Your Tor Story, Open Days
New Release: Tor Browser for Android (Alpha)
Mobile browsing is on the rise around the world, and in some parts, it is commonly the only way people access the internet. In these same areas, there is often heavy surveillance and censorship online, so in the past year, we've focused on better supporting these users.
There's never been an official Tor Browser on mobile. Until now.
Introducing Tor Browser for Android (alpha), the mobile browser with the highest privacy protections ever available and on par with Tor Browser for desktop. You can download the alpha release on GooglePlay, or you can get the apk directly from our download page. The stable release is slated for early 2019.
Note: For this release, you also need to install Orbot, a proxy application that will connect Tor Browser for Android with the Tor network. For the upcoming Tor Browser for Android stable release, our goal is for Orbot not to be necessary to connect to Tor.
Learn about its features and try it out: https://blog.torproject.org/new-alpha-release-tor-browser-android
We're Hiring: Software Developer, Anti-Censorship Team
To strengthen our fight against censorship worldwide, we're forming a new Anti-Censorship Team. We need to hire a developer to help improve the user process of finding alternate routes to the Tor network when access is blocked.
Extensive experience writing and evaluating code in Python and Go is required. Experience with Rust, internet security, and obfuscation technologies would be a big help.
Learn more and apply: https://www.torproject.org/about/jobs-developer-anti-censorship.html.en
How Has Tor Helped You? We Need Your Stories
It's an understatement to say a lot has happened related to privacy and freedom online over the past seven years! Surveillance and crackdowns on free speech have increased around the world, and vast amounts of personal data have been collected and sold. Tools like Tor are needed more than ever to allow people to browse the web freely and privately.
It's been seven years since we last asked, so we want to know: What do you use Tor for? Why do you need it? What has Tor done for you? What could have happened if you weren't able to use Tor? We need your stories!
We know these examples exist, and we reference them in our talks around the world, but these stories are more powerful when they come as a quotable personal narrative from you. Read some example stories and tell us yours.
https://blog.torproject.org/how-has-tor-helped-you-we-need-your-stories
Hack With Us in Mexico City
Tor folks from around the world are heading out now to convene in Mexico City for one of our biannual meetings. We'll discuss the future of Tor as an organization and decide what protocols and features to focus our efforts on.
As part of this meeting, we're also having two open hack days everyone is welcome to join. The open days for the Mexico meeting will be Tuesday, October 2 and Wednesday, October 3 at the Sheraton Mar'eda Isabel.
Find out more: https://blog.torproject.org/hack-us-mexico-city-hackea-con-tor-en-mexico
More New Releases
Tor Browser 8.5a2 This alpha version contains the same bug fixes and improvements introduced in version 8.0.1. In addition we are updating Tor to 0.3.5.2-alpha, and are fixing some 8.0 issues. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-85a2
Tor Browser 8.0.1 Tor Browser 8.0.1 ships the first stable Tor in the 0.3.4 series which solves a crash bug on older macOS systems (10.9.x). Also, thx to Alex from Cliqz for finding an issue with Torbutton. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-801
Tor 0.3.4.8 (also other stable updates: 0.2.9.17, 0.3.2.12, and 0.3.3.10) This is the first stable release in its series; it includes compilation and portability fixes and improvements for running Tor in low-power and embedded environments, which should help performance in general. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-0348-also-other-stable-updates-02917-03212-and-03310
Upcoming Events with Tor
Tor Meetup Ciudad de M'e9xico. Mexico City. September 27, 2018. https://blog.torproject.org/events/tor-meetup-ciudad-de-mexico
Tor's Open Hack Days. Mexico City. October 2-3, 2018. https://blog.torproject.org/events/tors-open-hack-days-mexico-city
Tormenta: di'e1logos feministas para las libertades y autocuidados. Mexico City. October 4, 2018. https://blog.torproject.org/events/tormenta-dialogos-feministas-para-las-libertades-y-autocuidados
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure: https://donate.torproject.org
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject Instagram: https://instagram.com/torproject
We Gave Tor Browser a UX Overhaul
We Gave Tor Browser a UX Overhaul
For the past year, we have been collecting feedback on how we can make Tor Browser work better for you.
Tor Browser 8.0, our first stable release based on Firefox 60 ESR, is now available. This release is all about users first.
Tor Browser 8.0 comes with a series of user experience improvements that address a set of long-term Tor Browser issues youâve told us about. To meet our users' needs, Tor Browser has a new user onboarding experience; an updated landing page that follows our styleguide; additional language support; and new behaviors for bridge fetching, displaying a circuit, and visiting .onion sites.
For the most part, using Tor is like using any other browser (and it is based on Firefox), but there are some usage differences and cool things happening behind the scenes that users should be aware of. Our new onboarding experience aims to better let you know about unique aspects of Tor Browser and how to maximize those for your best browsing experience.
Improved Bridge Fetching
For users where Tor is blocked, we have previously offered a handful of bridges in the browser to bypass censorship. But to receive additional bridges, you had to send an email or visit a website, which posed a set of problems. To simplify how you request bridges, we now have a new bridge configuration flow when you when you launch Tor. Now all you have to do is solve a captcha in Tor Launcher, and youâll get a bridge IP. We hope this simplification will allow more people to bypass censorship and browse the internet freely and privately.
Better Language Support
Millions of people around the world use Tor, but not everyone has been able to use Tor in their language. In Tor Browser 8, weâve added resources and support for nine previously unsupported languages: Catalan, Irish, Indonesian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, Hebrew, Swedish, and Traditional Chinese.
Collaboration Was Key
Providing this many improvements for our users could only be possible with collaboration between the Tor Browser team and Tor's UX team, Community team, Services Admin team, and our volunteers. We would like to thank everyone for working hard over the past year to bring all these new features to our users.
Learn more about it: https://blog.torproject.org/new-alpha-release-tor-browser-android Try it out: https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html
Volunteer Spotlight: Sina Rabbani Helps Activists Avoid Government Censorship
Tor is a labor of love built by a small group of committed individuals. Weâre grateful to have the support of a dedicated volunteer base who help us to make Tor the strongest privacy tool out there, and weâre highlighting their work in this series. We want to thank Sina Rabbani, one of the co-founders (and former CTO) of Access Now, a nonprofit dedicated to defending usersâ digital rights, for his years of support to Tor and to the internet freedom movement.
Sina runs Faravahar, one of nine Tor directory authorities. These dedicated servers tell the millions of Tor clients which relays make up the Tor network. A talented and passionate engineer, Sina has been involved with digital rights activism for almost a decade. Today, heâs a Systems Engineer with Team Cymru, an internet security company which analyzes threat intelligence.
Free speech is something Sina doesnât take for granted. âI was born in a country where you can be sentenced to death because of your speech,â he said. âFreedom of speech in the digital age is a basic human right. Tyranny will start by taking our ability to speak up first, then the rest of our rights.â
âTor gives me a chance to resist tyranny in a non-violent manner, and I feel blessed and grateful for the opportunity. The hope is to one day move Faravahar to one of Iranâs universities. Until that day, Ma Hastim va Ma Bishomarim â we are, and we are countless.â
Learn more about Sina's work and how he became involved with Tor: https://blog.torproject.org/volunteer-spotlight-sina-rabbani-helps-activists-avoid-government-censorship
More New Releases
Tor Browser 8.0a10 Tor Browser 8.0a10 is the second alpha release based on Firefox ESR 60 and contains a number of improvements and bug fixes. It includes major updates to the user experience, and there are more to come. The stable version is slated for release next week! Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-80a10
Tor 0.3.4.7-rc Tor 0.3.4.7-rc fixes several small compilation, portability, and correctness issues in previous versions of Tor. This version is a release candidate: if no serious bugs are found, we expect that the stable 0.3.4 release will be (almost) the same as this release. Full changelog: https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-0347-rc
Upcoming Events with Tor
Tor Meetup Ciudad de MĂ©xico. Mexico City. September 27, 2018. https://blog.torproject.org/events/tor-meetup-ciudad-de-mexico
Tor's Open Hack Days. Mexico City. October 2-3, 2018. https://blog.torproject.org/events/tors-open-hack-days-mexico-city
Join Our Community
Getting involved with Tor is easy. Run a relay to make the network faster and more decentralized: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorRelayGuide
Learn about each of our teams and start collaborating: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/WikiStart#Teams
Donate to help keep Tor fast, strong, and secure: https://donate.torproject.org
--
The Tor Project is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization advancing human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use, and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/torproject Facebook: https://facebook.com/torproject