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.
I use Tor to participate in grassroots anti-nuclear weapons activism. This is quite dangerous so Tor is absolutely essential.
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'm a political activist, part of a semi-criminalized minority.
It helps me stay anonymous on the internet and do research without being followed.
Tor Browser is the last defense line of the free internet.
I think online security and privacy are CRITICAL to maintain a free society.
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.
I am a software developer and programming teacher and I live in Cuba.
I'm using Tor for accessing the internet freely. I need it because in my country internet is censored.
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 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 live in Iran and I have been using Tor for censorship circumvention.
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.
Encryption is like putting a letter in an envelope before posting it: It’s common sense.
I am a simple user. I love privacy-related tools and I am very interested in encryption, decryption and security.
Encryption is privacy, as simple as that. Privacy should be the default, giving away information should be the exception.
Really, I personally don’t need to worry much about my privacy. But I use Tor to protect others.
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 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.
I use Tor and other encrypted communications methods to communicate with journalists and human rights advocates.
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.
I think our data is being manipulated, used against to shape our worldview...my aim is to avoid 'misinformation' and stop online bullying.
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 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 very much. I educated myself free from state propaganda.
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'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 use the Tor Browser to research about mental diseases, e.g. depression, that occur in our family.
I am a trans-lesbian and I would rather decide who to tell this to.
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.
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'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 politics [here] is kind of crazy so I kind of fear about any of my data stored by the government.
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.
Tor makes sure I have a generic internet profile, free from any specifications.
I decided to take back my privacy and I have been using Tor ever since.
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 was concerned about [my] privacy after hearing about yahoo mail and gmail handing over private email to government officials.
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.