Tor Project Collaborations with Privacy Groups

The Tor Project actively collaborates with a wide network of privacy organizations, open-source developers, and digital rights groups. Through technical integrations, joint research, and policy advocacy, Tor works closely with global partners to defend online anonymity, resist state-level censorship, and promote digital human rights worldwide.

Technical and Software Partnerships

Tor’s technology forms the backbone of several major open-source privacy projects:

• Tails OS: The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a privacy-focused operating system that routes all outgoing internet traffic through the Tor network. The Tor Project and Tails officially merged their operations in 2024 to streamline development and resource management.
• The Guardian Project: The Tor Project collaborates closely with the Guardian Project to create mobile tools like Orbot, which brings Tor’s routing capabilities to Android and iOS devices.
• Freedom of the Press Foundation: Tor works alongside the foundation to support SecureDrop, an open-source whistleblower submission system designed for secure, anonymous communication between journalists and sources.
• Mozilla: The Tor Browser is built on an extended support release of Mozilla Firefox. Tor and Mozilla engineers regularly share privacy patches and technical research regarding anti-tracking and anti-fingerprinting technologies.

Advocacy and Policy Alliances

The Tor Project collaborates with civil society organizations to oppose digital surveillance and advocate for encryption:

• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): The EFF was an early funder and long-time ally of Tor. Both organizations partner on public campaigns to defend strong encryption and train activists, lawyers, and journalists in secure communications.
• Access Now and Article 19: Tor works alongside international digital rights coalitions to combat government-enforced internet blackouts and censorship.

Censorship Monitoring and Academic Research

The Tor Project co-founded and continues to coordinate with the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), a global network measuring internet censorship and traffic tampering. Additionally, Tor regularly partners with academic institutions, cryptography experts, and computer science departments to conduct formal security audits, research traffic analysis resistance, and improve bridge distribution mechanisms.