We might not be in a position to share state secrets with foreign governments, but if we were, we’d use the Tor Browser.

Users who want to keep their private business private when online often turn to VPN (virtual private network) providers. It’s a sensible precaution, and when you search for terms related to online privacy, it’s SEO-optimised, VPNpromoting articles that occupy the first few pages of results, because VPN companies pay out up to 60% for sales through affiliate links. Want your online tech publication to flourish? VPNs are where the cash is.

VPNs can hide your location and your activities, but you need to pay for the privilege and create an account – and you can never be truly certain that the company that takes your money isn’t straight up selling your details to data brokers, handing it over to the police or, worse, to Disney copyright lawyers. Everybody loves getting paid twice, right?

HOW TOR OPERATES

“Onion routing works by bouncing your connection between different routers so that they’re hard to track.”

Commercial VPNs are designed with a very specific threat model in mind, and for most people looking for a level of anonymity which would allow them to sneak subversive messages past government censors, for instance, the Tor Network is where it’s at.

Tor was born in the 1990s as The Onion Routing project, from the minds of engineers at the US Naval Research Lab, who wanted a way of connecting computers on the internet without revealing the parties involved – even if someone is monitoring the network. It’s been instrumental in keeping communications secure during popular uprisings such as the Arab Spring, dissident movements in Iran, Turkey and Russia, as well as helping NSA leaker Edward Snowden exfiltrate state secrets from his workplace. It’s also good for those engaged in normal, everyday activities, but don’t want to be watched.