Compliance Management, Privacy

Tor Project, Library Freedom Project to establish Tor exit nodes in libraries

Tor Project and the Library Freedom Project have joined forces to establish Tor exit nodes in libraries in an effort to protect internet freedom, bolster the Tor network and show the public how Tor can be used to protect their digital free expression rights, according to a Tor Project blog post.

Calling libraries “our most democratic public spaces,” the post said that establishing Tor exit relays in libraries “would not only be powerful symbolic gesture,”  it would also be “a practical way to help the Tor network” as well.

The post also commended librarians for knowing their rights and being “ready to fight back when those rights are challenged.” Safe harbor provisions also protect libraries from DMCA takedowns.

The new project is being tested in the Kilton Library in Lebanon, N.H., which runs computers on GNU/Linux distributions.  “By choosing GNU/Linux and installing some privacy-protecting browser extensions too,” the library is helping “staff and patrons opt-out of pervasive government and corporate surveillance,” the post said, noting that most libraries run Windows and that Microsoft participated in the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program. The project dubbed the new relay LebLibraries.

Once the relay has been tested for a few months, it will be converted into an exit node.

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