https://archive.is/IoV4R#selection-95.0-123.1
Reddit, the “front page of the internet”, now partially funds the Tor Project. The Tor Project is an internet “anonymity network” which was set up by the US Navy. Tor claims to help internet users hide from repressive governments, in reality it’s a US espionage tool designed to get ‘interesting’ targets to self-select.
Tor users are not sophisticated actors. Organizations which are serious about security do not use Tor, because rumblings about Tor’s ‘vulnerabilities’ have been reaching the mainstream media since 2007 (at least).
Why would agencies like the NSA want to watch poorly organized and poorly informed ‘onion routing’ users? Well, there’s the blackmail angle: child pornography is all over the Tor network.
There’s also the ‘useful idiot’ angle: simple-minded fanatics who believe they’re more dangerous than they really are and who can be easily manipulated into doing things that help the ‘intelligence community’. Think Lulzsec.
An offshoot of anonymous that for a time was hacking government agencies. Turned out that one of the members was flipped by the FBI and it is likely that a large portion of the shenanigans were committed under the direction of the government. iirc several participants were minors from various countries and the one who got flipped was a welfare recipient in NYC. They were amusing but a tad to boastful. It was interesting to watch just like most of the internet happenings.
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