Documents Show Tor Project Is Nearly 100% U.S Government Funded

65 points by cdvonstinkpot 7 years ago | 15 comments
  • Santosh83 7 years ago
    It wouldn't matter where funding came from if the basic algorithms used for encryption as well as the rest of Tor source are sound and audited. Are there any past, present or future efforts to audit Tor?

    The problem of well funded govts flooding Tor exit node pool with their own nodes and globally inspecting traffic is a real issue that I think the current design of Tor is not equipped to circumvent. This can happen even if Tor hadn't received any funding from any govt. Any darknet has to be hot target for govt infiltration and subversion and Tor is not an exception. If you're planning to do something highly illegal, think if you need to do it at all. Do not assume a few hops through a few machines means you'll forever be out of reach of concerted attempts at finding you.

    • __s 7 years ago
      At least here "highly illegal" can be read as "highly illegal according to the US"
      • CapitalistCartr 7 years ago
        The USA is mostly the gov't with the reach to monitor TOR that thoroughly, but other countries might be doing enough, too. Also, the USA is well known to share intel. If you're annoying Iran, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Israel, China, Germany, or any Five Eyes country, at least, TOR is helpful, but not sufficient. And probably several more countries.
    • 7 years ago
      • sschueller 7 years ago
        • wbl 7 years ago
          https://donate.torproject.org/pdr is how you can fix it!
          • mtgx 7 years ago
            Geez. Could have they have found any other t-shirt designs that don't immediately scream "this guy is a cybercriminal"?

            It looks like the kind of cloths snake-oil security companies would use to dress-up their terrorist-looking cyber-criminal in presentations to law enforcement or other government agencies.

            • anoncoward111 7 years ago
              don't be such a geezer :) the shirt is cool, the color scheme appeals to its demographic, and the imagery is symbolic of past revolutions and struggles for freedom from tyranny
              • cgriswald 7 years ago
                Years ago, we had an underling from a consulting firm run l0phtcrack over our network and was stupid enough to show myself and some other employees and brag about it as if he had committed a coup de grâce.

                Call me a geezer if you want, but I had forgotten all about the guy... until I saw this shirt. He would definitely have worn it, and I can't imagine myself ever wearing it.

          • empath75 7 years ago
            This shouldn’t be shocking at all. (I also wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Satoshi Nakamoto is an NSA front.)

            The US has been involved in ‘election meddling’ and regime change forever, and building tools to help activists destabilize governments is part of that.

            That they also happen to destabilize American institutions is an unintended side effect.

            • withinboredom 7 years ago
              > That they also happen to destabilize American institutions is an unintended side effect.

              Made me LOL.

              • rmrfrmrf 7 years ago
                yawn
              • rmrfrmrf 7 years ago
                This isn't secret and isn't news. Who keeps posting this garbage?
                • watty 7 years ago
                  I follow HN pretty regularly and I had no idea. I thought Tor was the best bet for privacy. How is this garbage?
                  • Arnt 7 years ago
                    It is.

                    The US government wants you to be able to oppose the governments of countries X, Y and Z. A long list. So it pays for Tor. Other branches of the same government want to spy on you, in much the same way as the governments of X, Y and Z.

                • Hendrikto 7 years ago
                  This is no secret at all.