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Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for a variety of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy.

Note: You can also download the latest version of Tor Browser here.

Individuals use Tor to prevent websites from tracking them and their family members, or to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, or the like when these are blocked by their local ISPs. Tor’s hidden services allow users to publish web pages and other services without having to reveal the location of the site. Individuals also use Tor for socially sensitive communication: chat rooms and online forums for rape and abuse survivors, or people with illnesses.

Journalists use Tor to communicate more securely with whistleblowers and dissidents. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home site while in a foreign country, without notifying everyone nearby that they work with that organization.

Groups such as Indymedia recommend Tor to safeguard their members’ privacy and security online. Activist groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) recommend Tor as a mechanism for maintaining civil liberties online. Companies use Tor as a secure way to conduct competitive analysis, and to protect sensitive purchasing patterns from eavesdropping. They also use it to replace traditional VPNs, which reveal the exact amount and time of communication. Which places have employees who work late? Where have employees consulted job search websites? Which research departments communicate with the company’s patent attorneys?

One branch of the US Navy uses Tor for open source intelligence gathering, and one of their teams used Tor while recently deployed to the Middle East. Law enforcement uses Tor to visit or monitor websites without leaving public IP addresses in their web logs, and for security during sting operations.

Welcome screen

Our old screen had way too much information for users, causing many of them to spend a lot of time confused about what to do. Some users on the paper experiment spent up to 40 minutes confused about what they needed to do here. In addition to simplifying the screen and message, to make it easier for the user to know if they need to configure something or not, we’ve also done a “branding update” that brings our logo to the launch.

Censor Bypass Configuration

This is one of the most important steps for a user trying to connect to Tor while their network is censoring Tor. We also worked very hard to ensure that the user interface text would make it easy for the user to understand what a bridge is and how to configure to use one. Another update was a little tip we added to the dropdown menu (which you can see below) for which bridge to use in countries that have very sophisticated censorship methods.

Information about proxy help

The proxy settings in our Tor Launcher configuration wizard are an important feature for users who are under a network that requires such configuration. But it can also cause a lot of confusion if the user has no idea what a proxy is. Since it is a very important feature for users, we decided to keep it in the main configuration screen and introduced a help message explaining when someone would need such configuration.

As part of our work with the UX team, we will also coordinate user testing of this new UI to continue to iterate and ensure we are always improving the user experience. We’re also planning a number of improvements not just to the Tor Launcher flow, but to the entire browsing experience (when connected to Tor), including a new user onboarding flow. And last but not least, we’re streamlining both our mobile and desktop experiences: Tor Browser 7.5 adapted the security slider we made for mobile, bringing the improved user experience to desktop as well.

What is new

All platforms

• Update Firefox to 68.11.0esr
• Update NoScript to 11.0.34
• Update Tor to 0.4.4.2-alpha

Windows + OS X + Linux

• Error 40019: “Onion-Location should not be processed on .onion web pages