https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5761/TorFrom-the-Dark-Web-to-the-Future-of-Privacy Skip to Main Content MIT Press Direct, home MIT Press Direct, home Close * Books + Books Home + Browse Books * Journals + Journals Home + Browse Journals * CogNet * About MIT Press Direct * Customer Support * Librarians Search Dropdown Menu header search search input [ ] Search input auto suggest [ ] filter your search [All Books ] Search Advanced Search User Tools Dropdown Register Sign In Books Gateway Toggle MenuMenu * Browse Books * About * Librarians * Customer Support Skip Nav Destination Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy By Ben Collier Ben Collier Ben Collier is Lecturer in Digital Methods in the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar The MIT Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.001.0001 ISBN electronic: 9780262378925 Publication date: 2024 A biography of Tor--a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, and global politics at the internet's core. Tor, one of the most important and misunderstood technologies of the digital age, is best known as the infrastructure underpinning the so-called Dark Web. But the real "dark web," when it comes to Tor, is the hidden history brought to light in this book: where this complex and contested infrastructure came from, why it exists, and how it connects with global power in intricate and intimate ways. In Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy,Ben Collier has written, in essence, a biography of Tor--a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, politics, and empire in the deepest reaches of the internet. The story of Tor begins in the 1990s with its creation by the US Navy's Naval Research Lab, from a convergence of different cultural worlds. Drawing on in-depth interviews with designers, developers, activists, and users, along with twenty years of mailing lists, design documents, reporting, and legal papers, Collier traces Tor's evolution from those early days to its current operation on the frontlines of global digital power--including the strange collaboration between US military scientists and a group of freewheeling hackers called the Cypherpunks. As Collier charts the rise and fall of three different cultures in Tor's diverse community--the engineers, the maintainers, and the activists, each with a distinct understanding of and vision for Tor--he reckons with Tor's complicated, changing relationship with contemporary US empire. Ultimately, the book reveals how different groups of users have repurposed Tor and built new technologies and worlds of their own around it, with profound implications for the future of the Internet. * Open the Book PDF for in another window * Share Icon Share + Facebook + Twitter + LinkedIn + Email * Tools Icon Tools + Permissions + Cite Icon Cite * Reader Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy By: Ben Collier https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.001.0001 ISBN (electronic): 9780262378925 Publisher: The MIT Press Published: 2024 Download citation file: * Ris (Zotero) * Reference Manager * EasyBib * Bookends * Mendeley * Papers * EndNote * RefWorks * BibTex Table of Contents * [ Front Matter ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0001 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Front Matter ] in another window * Acknowledgments Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0002 Open the PDF Link PDF for Acknowledgments in another window * Introduction: Onion and On and On Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0003 Open the PDF Link PDF for Introduction: Onion and On and On in another window * 1: Privacy Worlds Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0004 Open the PDF Link PDF for 1: Privacy Worlds in another window * 2: The Worlds of the Internet Infrastructure Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0005 Open the PDF Link PDF for 2: The Worlds of the Internet Infrastructure in another window * 3: Tor's Strange Beginnings Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0006 Open the PDF Link PDF for 3: Tor's Strange Beginnings in another window * 4: Designing the Onion Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0007 Open the PDF Link PDF for 4: Designing the Onion in another window * 5: Enter the Maintainers Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0008 Open the PDF Link PDF for 5: Enter the Maintainers in another window * 6: The Onion Grows Roots Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0009 Open the PDF Link PDF for 6: The Onion Grows Roots in another window * 7: The Dark Net Rises Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0010 Open the PDF Link PDF for 7: The Dark Net Rises in another window * 8: The Activists Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0011 Open the PDF Link PDF for 8: The Activists in another window * 9: Facing Worlds Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0012 Open the PDF Link PDF for 9: Facing Worlds in another window * 10: Privacy Futures Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0013 Open the PDF Link PDF for 10: Privacy Futures in another window * Afterword Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0014 Open the PDF Link PDF for Afterword in another window * Notes Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0015 Open the PDF Link PDF for Notes in another window * Index Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/14907.003.0016 Open the PDF Link PDF for Index in another window Availability Key * Open Access * Free * Available * No Access Copyright (c) 2024 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License The open access edition of this book was made possible by generous funding and support from MIT Press Direct to Open This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License . 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