The Tor network enables users to browse internet content anonymously. The free technology is built for TCP connections and enables anonymous usage of web browsers, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, email, and peer-to-peer (P2P).
The term “TOR” was created as an abbreviation for the “The Onion Routing” project, a clear reference to the technology upon which it is built. It is becoming increasingly more common to be named “Tor” – and this is how the developers refer to it.
The technology’s idea and development date back to the year 2000. The project was mostly pushed and developed in the early years by US government organisations, first by the United States Naval Research Laboratory, with backing from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Tor was also developed in partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The Tor Project, Inc., a non-profit company, has been in charge of the open source project since 2006.
