Projection


 * Projection**

Where will Tor be in the coming years? To answer this question one must look at historical data. Growth has seemingly become exponential for Tor. In 2004 just 34 nodes existed with many located in the United State, as of 2009 the number was closer to 1200 distributed across the globe. Today the number stands at an astounding 2336. This dramatic increase in usage and node participation did not simply occur - it was shoved to the front lines during the Arab Spring. In 2009, prior to the Arab Spring, a privacy focused movement began to heat up in China as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) pushed for greater transparency and access to information for Chinese citizens. China then responded by blocking access to Tor and other anonymous services, inspiring supporters to setup Tor relays and bridges to aid the Chinese citizens. What does this show? It shows that Tor can be a powerful tool for social movements, especially those who are being censored by their country. While one can never accurately predict the political climate, with movements such as OccupyWallStreet, which has yet to embrace Tor but rather relies on Twitter for communication, there are clearly opportunities for Tor to be deployed and for the adoption rate to increase dramatically.

(*Links intentionally omitted for legal and ethical reasons*) There are several things that could stifle adoption though. One down-side to allowing free, uncensored speech online is that people can post things that most in society would find wrong or bad. The darknet, including Tor hidden services, is littered with violent desire forums where individuals detail how they wish to harm or kill individuals. There are snuff films, violent fetishes, and the methamphetamine of the internet - child pornography. Luckily, the hacking collective, Anonymous, is equally troubled by the availability and prevalence of child porn on the darknet and purportedly launched Operation Darknet, an attempt to bring down some of the primary child porn services. While the operation was only somewhat successful in that the sites went down for a couple of days, it signaled to the world that the darknet, despite its seemingly ominous name, has ethics and standards that transcend their duty to provide uncensored information and free speech.

While it is doubtful that Tor will ever see mainstream adoption, the unique niches where it thrives seem to be growing at a record pace.