This is a collection of anonymous user stories from people who rely on Tor to protect their privacy and anonymity. We encourage you to share their experiences with your network, friends and family, or as part of your work to promote the use of privacy-preserving technologies like ours and help us defend strong online protections.
Tor Browser is the last defense line of the free internet.
I'm a political activist, part of a semi-criminalized minority.
I'm in the UK. I do not face any direct threats or risks regarding my use of the internet, and solely use Tor to avoid mass surveillance of my browsing history.
I use Tor to participate in grassroots anti-nuclear weapons activism. This is quite dangerous so Tor is absolutely essential.
It helps me stay anonymous on the internet and do research without being followed.
I am a software developer and programming teacher and I live in Cuba.
I think online security and privacy are CRITICAL to maintain a free society.
I live in Iran and I have been using Tor for censorship circumvention.
I live in Iran and the police state is vigorously spying on people. Without Tor we would be shut off from the world, no one hearing our voice.
I strongly believe encryption is essential for a healthy democracy, for the privacy of every human being on this planet and to combat/reduce government abuse of power and mass surveillance.
Encryption is essential for secure internet use. If communication services are not encrypted when discussing politics, it will be difficult to have a free discussion because people will be worried that government agencies may be eavesdropping.
I'm using Tor for accessing the internet freely. I need it because in my country internet is censored.
Journalism isn't free and fair. You are free to say what you feel at the risk of job loss and prison for expressing anything contrary to the wishes of whoever is in power of your jurisdiction - you have that right to say it and suffer.
I use Tor and other encrypted communications methods to communicate with journalists and human rights advocates.
I am a simple user. I love privacy-related tools and I am very interested in encryption, decryption and security.
Really, I personally don’t need to worry much about my privacy. But I use Tor to protect others.
In a world in which the Patriot Act has removed basic protections guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, US citizens have lost way too much in privacy rights to risk any transaction on an insecure platform.
Big corporations and companies have no morals and don't hesitate to share personal information for profit. Our data was shared without our permission from sources like our healthcare provider and employer.
I live in Europe and am not by any means an important, critical or endangered person, but I have friends in other parts of the world to whom anonymity and privacy through encryption is crucial. Encryption is the only way to ensure they can securly voice their opinion.
Encryption is like putting a letter in an envelope before posting it: It’s common sense.
Encryption is privacy, as simple as that. Privacy should be the default, giving away information should be the exception.
Tor helped me very much. I educated myself free from state propaganda.
I think our data is being manipulated, used against to shape our worldview...my aim is to avoid 'misinformation' and stop online bullying.
I use Tor for social media posting on sites that restrict free speech.
Tor helps me stay outside of filter bubbles and protects me from being tracked.
Tor helped me learn new things. I'm in a country where you can get locked up for having different opinions than my government.
I used Tor to obtain documents from Wikileaks.
I am a father of two teenagers. As teenagers, they, or their friends, are bumping into issues regarding sex, drugs, social media, and bullying.
I use the Tor Browser to research about mental diseases, e.g. depression, that occur in our family.
I'm a doctor in a very political town. I have patients who work on legislation that can mean billions of dollars to major telecom, social media, and search concerns.
I was a family physician and clinical psychiatrist for 25 years, often working with members of marginalized and persecuted groups. Being able to protect my patients' personal information was of paramount importance.
I am a trans-lesbian and I would rather decide who to tell this to.
The knowledge that I'm queer might lead a mob to my location (with potentially-deadly consequences) and ostracism from my family (on whom I'm currently economically dependent).
I am in the United States. Tor has helped me get around my very strict school ISP when researching sensitive topics such as lgbt resources.
I'm from Brazil, and I've been using it for over 3 years. Tor has helped me a lot in protecting me from fingerprinting on the web.
I desperately needed a means to secure my online privacy because I am a cyberstalking victim whose online identity has been both stolen and compromised.
The risks I face from not using Tor are not immediate, and mostly focus around the government consolidating information on it's population and the potential for this to go wrong.
The politics [here] is kind of crazy so I kind of fear about any of my data stored by the government.
I use Tor Browser as my everyday browser, nearly 100% of the time. I am in USA. I face minimum risk, except for corporate business tracking. During the past 4-5 years, I have used the Tor Browser to connect to "thousands" of sites.
I decided to take back my privacy and I have been using Tor ever since.
I live in the UK. I was incredibly disturbed by the Edward Snowden revelations about NSA mass surveillance. This led me to start using the Tor browser.
Tor makes sure I have a generic internet profile, free from any specifications.
I was concerned about [my] privacy after hearing about yahoo mail and gmail handing over private email to government officials.