Tor Project wants to become less dependent on government subsidies with donations

The Tor Project is making an active call for donations for the first time. With the money, the organization wants to bring its anonymous services to a wider audience. The organization also wants to become less dependent on subsidies from the American government.

Unlike usual crowdfunding campaigns, the Tor Project has not set a target amount, nor is it possible to see how much money has been raised. A page has been created where people can donate an amount of their choice once or monthly. More details about the donation campaign can be found in a FAQ. In it, the organization writes about the various subsidies it receives from the American state. The Tor Project says it is grateful for this, but does not want to become too dependent on a single source of income.

Currently, the non-profit organization is 80 to 90 percent dependent on subsidies from the US government, writes The Verge. Although the Tor Project receives government funding, its relationship with the same government is often tense. Earlier in November, the Tor organization claimed that the FBI paid $1 million to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to enable tracking of users of the Tor browser.

It was already possible to donate before, according to the faq, eight thousand people have done so so far. For the first time, the organization is now making an active call. This is done through a blog, in which Laura Poitras tells her story. She made the documentary film Citizenfour, about the revelations of Edward Snowden. According to Poitras, this would not have been possible without services such as Tor. Her story should encourage people to donate.

In March, the Tor Project already stated that crowdfunding is the future for the service. At the time, the organization wrote on its blog that the objective is to make secure and anonymous communication available to a wider target group. To do that, the Tor Project wants to bring its services to mobile platforms, for example.