Limitations and uses of Tor

The Tor, known as "The Onion Router," is a decentralized network that facilitates anonymous online communication. It uses onion routing, where data is encrypted and routed through multiple volunteer-operated nodes, providing users with enhanced privacy and anonymity.

Uses of Tor

The Tor network serves many purposes, showcasing its versatility and value across various contexts.  Below are some significant uses of Tor:

• Anonymity and privacy: The primary use of the Tor network is to protect user privacy and maintain anonymity online. It allows individuals to browse the web, access resources, and communicate without revealing their identities or locations, making it invaluable for those in countries with censorship, oppressive regimes, or privacy concerns.

• Whistleblowing and journalism: Tor is a crucial platform for whistleblowers, journalists, and activists, enabling secure and anonymous communication for sharing sensitive information. It allows them to protect their identities while exposing corruption, human rights abuses, and other sensitive topics, ensuring their safety.

• Bypassing censorship: It grants individuals access to restricted content, social media platforms, news websites, and other resources that may be prohibited or restricted in their geographical region by governments, workplaces, or educational institutions.

• Accessing .onion websites: Accessing .onion websites exclusively available within the Tor network is a key feature of the Tor Browser. For example, popular news sources like The New York Times and social media platforms like Facebook have .onion versions (e.g. https://www.facebookcorewwwi.onion) that can only be accessed through Tor. This feature is precious in countries where users desire privacy from government surveillance regarding their news consumption habits.

• Research and security testing: Researchers and security professionals may utilize Tor to study and analyze network protocols, investigate potential vulnerabilities, and test the security of their systems without revealing their identities or locations.

Who uses Tor

Despite being commonly associated with illegal activities, Tor is also utilized by various individuals and organizations for legal reasons.

1. Government agencies: They may employ Tor to protect sensitive information and facilitate secure communication reducing the risk of data breaches when sharing classified or confidential data.

2. Enterprises: They use Tor to enhance data privacy and security by protecting their sensitive business communications, trade secrets, and customer data from potential threats and surveillance.

3. Illegal organizations: They may use Tor's anonymity to shield their online activities, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace their online presence and track their illegal operations.

4. Hackers: Some hackers may use Tor for illegal purposes, such as carrying out cyber attacks or hiding their identities. Not all hackers have malicious intent. Ethical hackers, known as white hat hackers, may utilize Tor for legal security testing. 

5. Private individuals: Private individuals, including journalists, activists, and individuals facing censorship, can benefit from using the Tor browser. 

Limitations

As with any technology, the Tor network also has limitations that users should know. Some of them are described below:

1. Speed and performance: Tor's multi-layered encryption and routing process can significantly impact browsing speed and overall performance. The traffic passing through multiple nodes can introduce latency, resulting in slower page loading times and decreased bandwidth. The capacity and bandwidth of the volunteer-operated nodes further influence the network's performance.

2. Exit node vulnerability: Tor ensures anonymity within the network, although the final exit node is not encrypted. The exit node can intercept or modify the traffic if a user accesses unencrypted websites or transmits unencrypted data. End-to-end encryption is essential to mitigate this vulnerability and ensure secure communication.

3. Website compatibility: Certain websites and online services may block or restrict access to users coming from the Tor network. Due to Tor's anonymizing features, some websites implement measures to prevent TOR access, as it can be misused for illegal activities. It can limit a user's ability to access specific websites or services.

4. Government blocking: In some jurisdictions, governments may actively block or prohibit access to the Tor network as part of their censorship or surveillance efforts. This limitation can restrict individuals' ability to utilize Tor for privacy, anonymity, and accessing blocked content, impeding their freedom of information and online expression.

Safety measures while using Tor

You can use the following measures to keep yourself anonymous while using Tor:

• Avoid logging into personal media accounts or other platforms that can be linked to your real identity, as it compromises anonymity.

• Avoid following a specific browsing pattern to get identified.

• Turn your Tor Browser's security level max to disable Javascript and fonts, images, audio, or video rendering. This will decrease the browser code and protect you from fingerprinting techniques.

• You can also use the "HTTPS Everywhere" extension to ensure you only visit HTTPS websites.

• Using BitTorrent over Tor is strongly discouraged due to the difficulties in keeping you anonymous while not revealing your IP addresses and the significantly reduced performance of the Tor network.

Conclusion

The Tor network enables anonymous communication online, providing enhanced privacy and anonymity through onion routing and volunteer-operated nodes. It serves various purposes, including protecting user privacy, promoting secure communication for whistleblowers and journalists, bypassing censorship, and facilitating research and security testing. However, it has limitations regarding speed, website compatibility, and government blocking. Users can maintain anonymity while benefiting from Tor's privacy features by following safety measures and precautions.