It's a way to anonymously use the Internet. Handy for people who want more privacy, whether they're spies, or dissidents in hostile countries, or just people who want privacy.
To use it, you download software, and configure it to connect to the internet, where your traffic connects to random places, gets encrypted, bounces around the web, getting reencrypted or decrypted and finally gets completely decrypted and leaves from another random place before it goes to its final destination. YOUR AMOUNT OF PRIVACY AND ANONYMITY IS COMPLETELY A FUNCTION OF HOW WELL YOU UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING ABOUT IT ( and the internet, likely )
It exists on the generosity of people running "Exit nodes", the places that accept connections, bounce traffic around, or squirt data out.
Unfortunately, if someone uses ToR to do something illegal,
the authorities might go after the person running the Exit node, and because of the nature of Tor, it's REALLY HARD TO FIND THE ACTUAL CRIME. This could be a problem to the person in custody, in spite of the fact they haven't (really) done anything wrong.
You have been warned.
Perry
Titled "Orwellian America, Government Transparency and Personal Privacy in the Digital Age", where they're sponsoring readings of books like "1984", showing of "The Internet's Own Boy", discuss government transparency, teach how to use Tor, and other things to help citizens of oppressive dictatorships be safe on the Internet. The theme is understanding widespread surveillance and the growing governmental culture of Big Brother in American government.
