The cool thing is that VPN and Tor can be used together to provide an extra layer of security and to mitigate some of the drawbacks of using either technology exclusively. Tor is much slower, is often blocked by websites, and is not suitable for P2P, but it does not require that you trust anybody, and is therefore much more genuinely anonymous. With your PIA service, you will get more privacy rather than anonymity. VPN speeds are generally faster than the TOR Browser as messages pass through only one VPN server instead of 3 TOR nodes. There are a few similarities and differences for example: Bookmark it, and you'll be able to monitor your bridge activity.īig thanks to Philipp Winter of the Tor Project for helping me to set up my first bridge.Yes! To use PIA with TOR, please make sure that you run the TOR Browser after you have connected to the PIA service.Īlthough in many ways both are very different, VPN's and the Tor anonymity network use encrypted proxy connections to hide users' identities. Here's the example of the page you'll get. TL DR: Go to the relay search, and type in your relay fingerprint. It's advised to be patient and wait until your bridge accumulates users. It can take up to several month before your bridge gets its first user. You can also count the number of users by viewing the relay logs. I found DigitalOcean the most convenient provider to use, but went ahead with my local provider to reduce the cost of running the relay. Rent a VPS or use the one already at your disposal.Free access to information is a basic human right. TL DR: It allows people living in oppressive regimes to have access to the open internet. Also, the bridges hide the fact that a person uses Tor. TL DR: Bridge relays allow to connect to Tor network even if it's banned by the government. They toss the packets to each other in a randomized fashion, anonymizing the sender of the packets. TL DR: The Tor browser connects to a network of publicly-listed interconnected nodes.

Read detailed description of Tor inner workings TL DR: Tor is a network for circumventing censorship and protecting identity online. While doing so, I've compiled this quick reference guide on how to run a bridge relay and why doing so is a good idea. Since this is a good way to contribute to the project, I went ahead and did it. In its recent newletter the Tor Project asked for help with setting up new, uncensored bridges.

Tor bridge example