Other Tor-haters insist, without evidence, that the browser is actually an NSA false flag, designed to trick users into thinking that it’s protecting their online activity, but in fact designed to compromise privacy, or that it’s been broken by cryptographers working for the government-or that it never even worked at all. The Tor web browser was featured in some of NSA slides that Snowden leaked (see figure 1) according to the spies, it’s a tool for terrorists and other criminals, which ignores the many legitimate reasons noncriminals might want to conceal their sensitive personal data from spies and hackers. It’s a powerful tool for anonymity, one of many tools that whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, activists, journalists, and everyday people use to help conceal their identities online. If you’ve been following the revelations of the last year and half detailing the overbroad and often illegal collection of data by the NSA surveillance machine and its various government and corporate partners, you’ve no doubt heard of Tor. Her work with the Library Freedom Project is vitally important to the future of libraries and recently earned a Knight Foundation grant. Having discovered Alison Macrina’s work via an appropriately-titled article “Radical Librarianship: How Ninja Librarians are Ensuring Patrons’ Electronic Privacy,” she was an obvious choice for author. While privacy has always been an issue at the forefront of librarians’ minds, revelations surrounding the NSA’s far-reaching data-collection programs and a seemingly unending string of high-profile breaches at major companies make paying attention to privacy all the more pressing. She can be contacted via or .Ĭorrespondence concerning this column should be addressed to Eric Phetteplace, Systems Librarian, California College of the Arts, 5212 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94618 email: have wanted to publish a column on privacy as it relates to library technology for a while.
Eric Phetteplace, Editor The Tor Browser and Intellectual Freedom in the Digital AgeĪlison Macrina is a librarian, privacy activist, and the founder of the Library Freedom Project, an initiative which aims to make real the promise of intellectual freedom in libraries.
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