Tor Browser Guide

Adapted from “Increasing Adoption of Tor Browser Using Informational and Planning Nudges,” published in PoPETS 2022.

Privacy Threats

Many different organizations can gather information about your browsing activity. Here are just a few examples:

Advertisers can see which websites you visit. By tracking your browsing, advertisers can learn about your interests, and they may show you annoying or embarrassing ads
Every website you visit receives information about you which can be used to infer the city or even neighborhood in which you live
Your internet service provider sees every website you visit, and there are few laws preventing them from selling that information
The government can request that companies give them information about your online activities

Other Privacy Tools

And unfortunately, most browsing tools offer only partial protection against these privacy threats. For example:

Private browsing only partially hides your browsing from advertisers, and does nothing to hide your location from websites or your browsing from your internet service provider or the government
Most VPNs do nothing to hide your browsing from advertisers, many VPNs keep logs which can be accessed by the government, and some VPNs even spy on their users
Ad blockers only partially hide your browsing from advertisers, and do nothing to protect against other privacy threats

Tor Browser

Thankfully, there is a tool called Tor Browser which is effective at protecting against these kinds of privacy threats. Tor Browser is a web browser which makes web browsing anonymous. It does this by making each user’s browsing indistinguishable from the browsing of thousands of other users around the world. If you use Tor Browser correctly, you can be confident your browsing is hidden from advertisers, your internet service provider, and even the government. Tor Browser also hides your location from the websites you visit. Tor Browser is available for free and is simple to use.

How do I use Tor Browser?

Tor Browser works just like a regular web browser, with a few key differences:

You should not log into accounts when using Tor Browser. If you log into an account, you will reveal your identity.
Every time you quit Tor Browser, it erases your browsing history. You should quit Tor Browser periodically, so your browsing patterns do not identify you.

So you should not completely replace your regular browser with Tor Browser, since you should use your regular browser to log into your email, social media, etc. Instead, we recommend using Tor Browser for specific, privacy-sensitive activities, such as for viewing sensitive information on Wikipedia or YouTube.

How do I install Tor Browser?

Tor Browser is a free tool run by a non-profit and volunteers. If you would like to use Tor Browser, please download and install it from this webpage: https://www.torproject.org/download/

How does Tor Browser work?

Tor Browser works by making you look the same as the thousands of other Tor Browser users. It combines several technologies to do this. For example, it uses encryption to hide your browsing from your internet service provider and from the operators of the Tor network itself. Also, by automatically erasing browsing history each time it is closed, Tor Browser prevents tracking cookies from connecting your browsing sessions. You can read more about Tor Browser’s technology here.

This is a simple diagram showing how websites load in Tor Browser. Your browsing goes through three randomly selected servers in the Tor network. This is done so that no single server in the Tor network can connect you to the websites you are browsing. Also, websites see the Tor network instead of your home internet connection, so they cannot connect your browsing back to you.

Traffic passes from your Tor Browser to into the Tor Network. Within the Tor Network, traffic is passed between three different nodes. Then, traffic exits the Tor Network and travels to the website being visited (e.g., YouTube or Wikipedia).

Frequently Asked Questions

Who uses Tor Browser?

Citizens avoiding government censorship, journalists, and many other people use Tor Browser.

Is it legal to use Tor Browser?

Yes: In the United States, free speech laws mean that it is completely legal to use Tor Browser. However, Tor Browser is blocked in countries which employ censorship, like China.

Is Tor Browser useful for torrenting files?

No: Tor Browser is intended for loading websites, and the similarity in name of Tor and BitTorrent is purely coincidental. Torrenting files over Tor is not recommended.

Does using Tor Browser protect me from malware or hackers?

No: Tor Browser provides no additional protections against malware or hackers.

Does using Tor Browser guarantee that I will be anonymous?

No: Tor Browser initially provides anonymity, but if you log into internet accounts (e.g., your email account) or identify yourself through other ways (e.g., Googling your name) in Tor Browser, you will reveal your identity. But when used correctly, Tor Browser provides strong privacy protections: law enforcement has successfully caught some criminals who commit crimes using Tor Browser, but such investigations are time-consuming and expensive.

What if I accidentally log into an account using Tor Browser?

To become anonymous again, you should clear Tor Browser of all account-related data by either quitting Tor Browser or by clicking the “New Identity” button.

The New Identity button is in the top-right corner of the browser, and is shaped like a broom.

Common Problems

Browsing with Tor Browser will be a bit slower. This is because Tor Browser protects your privacy by routing your browsing through different servers around the world.
Some websites block Tor Browser users, since spammers sometimes use Tor Browser. If this happens, we recommend trying to use a different website.

If you want to use Tor Browser, we encourage you to install it now. It only takes a minute to install Tor Browser.