2025-03-26 19:03:17 +00:00
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---
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tags: [Tor]
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created: Wednesday, March 26, 2025
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---
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# c8820974_Tor_prioritising_uptake
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When formulating the initial architecture, the Tor engineers were faced with the
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following dilemma.
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- Greater security meant greater complexity for the user and therefore reduced
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adoption.
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- Less adoption means less security because there are less users on the network
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and thus individual nodes become easier to track and identify.
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Factors that would result in greater security include more cryptographic rigour
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or more hops. Also additional methods of obfuscation such as mixing and padding.
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Both could involve more overhead for the user, which introduces friction and the
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likelihood of continued use. More hops increases latency which makes everyday
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use less viable.
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Broad uptake and a rich ecosystem including users who were not the main or
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target beneficiaries (spies, totalitarian subjects) was necessary in order to
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obscure the activities of the target users.
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2025-03-27 17:56:31 +00:00
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## Source
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Ben Collier, _Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy_ (2024)
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