Tor Proxy

The Tor™ software is a privacy-enhancing tool that routes your internet traffic through the Tor™ (The Onion Router) network. By relaying your requests through multiple encrypted nodes (relays) worldwide, Tor helps anonymize your online activities and protect your identity.

How the Tor Proxy Works

Multi-layered Encryption: Each request is encrypted multiple times and sent through a series of Tor relays. Each relay decrypts only enough information to know where to send the data next, but never the full path or the original source.
Anonymity by Design: This process makes it extremely difficult to trace your internet activity back to you. No single relay knows both your identity and your destination.

Common Uses of Tor Proxy

Bypassing censorship and geographic restrictions
Protecting privacy from surveillance and monitoring
Shielding browsing habits from ISPs and third-party trackers

Important Notes

WebLibre’s Tor Service implementation, providing third party access on the Tor network, is designed to enhance privacy.
If you require a hardened browser for the use of Tor, please check out the official Tor Browser.

How to Use the Tor Service

Initial Setup

When you enable the Tor Proxy, an initial bootstrapping process occurs, typically taking 10–60 seconds. During this time, Tor:

Performs cryptographic handshakes
Selects relays
Establishes secure tunnels

Once bootstrapped, browsing uses pre-built circuits, with new circuits created periodically for ongoing privacy.

Using with Container

Enable Tor Proxy via the Container feature.
All tabs assigned to a Tor-enabled container will connect through the Tor network.
Note: This requires a separate Container Cookie Contexts for privacy. Only normal (non-private) tabs are supported.

Video

Private Tabs

Due to limitations in the Gecko engine, fine-grained control (as with containers) is not available for private tabs.
You can choose to route all or none of your private tabs through the Tor Proxy.
The setting for private tab routing is available on the Proxy page.

Why Choose Tor Over VPN?

Stronger Anonymity: Tor’s multi-layered encryption and distributed network provide greater anonymity than VPNs, which only shift trust from your ISP to the VPN provider.
No Single Point of Failure: Tor’s decentralized architecture means no single entity can compromise your entire connection, unlike VPNs where the provider can see all your traffic.
Free and Open Source: Tor is completely free and its source code is publicly available for audit. Quality VPNs typically require a paid subscription.
No Central Trust Required: With Tor, you do not need to trust any single company with your data. The distributed design ensures no single node has the full picture.

Why Access to .onion Domains Is Disabled

Accessing .onion domains—websites only reachable via the Tor network—is currently disabled in this service. This decision is made to protect users from fingerprinting and privacy risks that arise when accessing hidden services outside of the official Tor Browser environment.

Fingerprinting Risks

Browser Fingerprinting: Accessing .onion domains through non-Tor browsers or proxy implementations can expose unique browser characteristics (such as fonts, plugins, or screen size) to .onion sites. These details can be used to identify and track users, undermining Tor’s anonymity guarantees.
Network Fingerprinting: Some proxy setups may leak information about your network or device configuration, making it easier for adversaries to correlate your activity across sessions or services.

Why This Matters

Tor Browser is Hardened: The official Tor Browser is specifically designed to minimize fingerprinting by standardizing browser behavior and blocking many tracking techniques.
Proxy Limitations: Third-party Tor proxies and browser integrations do not provide the same level of protection as the Tor Browser. They may inadvertently leak identifying information, especially when accessing .onion domains.
User Safety: Disabling .onion access helps ensure that users are not exposed to advanced tracking or deanonymization attacks that can occur outside the official Tor Browser.

For the highest level of anonymity and access to the full Tor network, always use the official Tor Browser.

WebLibre

Explorer