Planet Blog: The Anonymous Internet
June 25, 2009
Weblogs, Facebook and especially ultra-short messages on Twitter have all been getting a lot of attention lately as ways for Iranians to describe what's happening in Tehran and other parts of the country ever since protests broke out after election on the June 12.
The government in Teheran has tried to block access to these Internet services, but Iranian Web surfers have been able to find ways to get to independent information and get their messages out.
Tor - short for The Onion Router - is one program that helps them do so. It helps cover people's online tracks by routing the information through a network of computers - making it difficult for governments - or anyone else - to cut off access to individual Web sites.
Tor Project's Executive-Director Andrew Lewman explained how the service works.