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Shallot donor means annual donations in excess of $100k USD. From the Tor website[0], it appears Mullvad is the only donor in excess of $49k USD annually (and p

Shallot donor means annual donations in excess of $100k USD. From the Tor website[0], it appears Mullvad is the only donor in excess of $49k USD annually (and possibly the only donor above $10001 USD). [0] https://www.torproject.org/about/membership/ https://www.torproject.org/about/membership/

sodality2 4y ago
It looks like there are multiple "Green Onion Members", which is 10k-49k.
- WithinReason 4y ago
  It's possible they only donate the minimum to get into the tier
  - Mtinie 4y ago
    And they should be applauded for that. The tiered naming system is working as intended.
jakear 4y ago
...besides the US Government, TOR's largest benefactor by far. In case anyone needed reminding. https://www.torproject.org/static/findoc/2020-TorProject-Form990.pdf https://www.torproject.org/static/findoc/2020-TorProject-For...
- winter_blue 4y ago
  I'm not sure which page of the link above (the tax return) I'm supposed to look at... Where does it say the US govt is funding Tor, and if so, by what amount are they funding Tor?
  - washmyelbows 4y ago
    page 10 lists over 2 million in government grants
    - Ajedi32 4y ago
      So about half of their revenue in 2020, according to that same page.
- blauditore 4y ago
  I can totally imagine they're using Tor for some undercover (foreign) operations or similar. I don't think the US Government with all its branches is known to practise exactly what it preaches.
  - ouid 4y ago
    I think what you have identified is that the US government is not, in any sense of the word, an it.
  - moremetadata 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - huggingmouth 4y ago
      > Ten years ago the US Navy invented Tor, an anonymous web browser. Now the ‘dark net’ is used to trade guns, drugs and child pornography, do its creators have any regrets? I hope they don't. I certainly wouldn't. Despite some of its glaring downsides, I firmly belive that Tor is a net positive for humanity.
    - IntelMiner 4y ago
      For what it's worth, the creators of Tor have stated their philosophy around that problem. Effectively that they shouldn't be the arbiter of what people can access
    - ccooffee 4y ago
      Well, parts of the US government engage in arms trafficking and drug trafficking (sometimes at the same time, as in Iran-Contra). I hope they don't do CSAM trafficking or human trafficking, but I wouldn't be surprised at the least.
      - MSFT_Edging 4y ago
        That's what the mercenaries... er contractors are for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DynCorp#Sex_trafficking_of_children_in_Bosnia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DynCorp#Sex_trafficking_of_chi...
- djfobbz 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - brnt 4y ago
    Because?
  - DeathArrow 4y ago
    For me, too.
  - IntelMiner 4y ago
    Why?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- DeathArrow 4y ago
  And I assume they have no means to spy on TOR traffic. :D
  - jakear 4y ago
    Au contraire: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/08/349016/a-dark-web-tycoon-pleads-guilty-but-how-was-he-caught https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/08/349016/a-dark-we...
- time_to_smile 4y ago
  The US Government also funded and build the Internet (or at least ARPAnet). The government also benefits from Tor being actually anonymous. It is worth being aware of course, but to my knowledge we have no evidence that Federal law enforcement has used anything other than old fashioned detective work to solve any Tor related cases. There's always the possibility of parallel construction, but I would expect some reasonable evidence supporting this in some high profile busts.
  - themoonisachees 4y ago
    It would however be common sense that the US gov. Wouldn't burn a TOR 0-day (or other means of breaking tor anonymity) for anything but the highest of high profile cases, especially considering it would end up in court records. They can either spy and let it slide because 1 guy buying weed on whatever replaced the silk road isn't worth that, or they can find the guy, arrest him if he's done something big enough and invent a way they found him. Hell, they could even say they found him on clearnet, the guy isn't gona go "your honor, i sure did buy those illegal drugs online but i used TOR so how did they find out" My current biggest reason to believe TOR isn't breached on a massive scale is that snowden had nothing to show about it.
wkat4242 4y ago
Does that include donors supplying resources in kind though? I'd imagine running a high profile exit node could cost upwards of 10k$ yearly too

sodality2 4y ago

It looks like there are multiple "Green Onion Members", which is 10k-49k.

WithinReason 4y ago
It's possible they only donate the minimum to get into the tier
- Mtinie 4y ago
  And they should be applauded for that. The tiered naming system is working as intended.

jakear 4y ago

...besides the US Government, TOR's largest benefactor by far. In case anyone needed reminding. https://www.torproject.org/static/findoc/2020-TorProject-Form990.pdf https://www.torproject.org/static/findoc/2020-TorProject-For...

winter_blue 4y ago
I'm not sure which page of the link above (the tax return) I'm supposed to look at... Where does it say the US govt is funding Tor, and if so, by what amount are they funding Tor?
- washmyelbows 4y ago
  page 10 lists over 2 million in government grants
  - Ajedi32 4y ago
    So about half of their revenue in 2020, according to that same page.
blauditore 4y ago
I can totally imagine they're using Tor for some undercover (foreign) operations or similar. I don't think the US Government with all its branches is known to practise exactly what it preaches.
- ouid 4y ago
  I think what you have identified is that the US government is not, in any sense of the word, an it.
- moremetadata 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - huggingmouth 4y ago
    > Ten years ago the US Navy invented Tor, an anonymous web browser. Now the ‘dark net’ is used to trade guns, drugs and child pornography, do its creators have any regrets? I hope they don't. I certainly wouldn't. Despite some of its glaring downsides, I firmly belive that Tor is a net positive for humanity.
  - IntelMiner 4y ago
    For what it's worth, the creators of Tor have stated their philosophy around that problem. Effectively that they shouldn't be the arbiter of what people can access
  - ccooffee 4y ago
    Well, parts of the US government engage in arms trafficking and drug trafficking (sometimes at the same time, as in Iran-Contra). I hope they don't do CSAM trafficking or human trafficking, but I wouldn't be surprised at the least.
    - MSFT_Edging 4y ago
      That's what the mercenaries... er contractors are for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DynCorp#Sex_trafficking_of_children_in_Bosnia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DynCorp#Sex_trafficking_of_chi...
djfobbz 4y ago
[flagged]
- brnt 4y ago
  Because?
- DeathArrow 4y ago
  For me, too.
- IntelMiner 4y ago
  Why?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
DeathArrow 4y ago
And I assume they have no means to spy on TOR traffic. :D
- jakear 4y ago
  Au contraire: https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/08/349016/a-dark-web-tycoon-pleads-guilty-but-how-was-he-caught https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/08/349016/a-dark-we...
time_to_smile 4y ago
The US Government also funded and build the Internet (or at least ARPAnet). The government also benefits from Tor being actually anonymous. It is worth being aware of course, but to my knowledge we have no evidence that Federal law enforcement has used anything other than old fashioned detective work to solve any Tor related cases. There's always the possibility of parallel construction, but I would expect some reasonable evidence supporting this in some high profile busts.
- themoonisachees 4y ago
  It would however be common sense that the US gov. Wouldn't burn a TOR 0-day (or other means of breaking tor anonymity) for anything but the highest of high profile cases, especially considering it would end up in court records. They can either spy and let it slide because 1 guy buying weed on whatever replaced the silk road isn't worth that, or they can find the guy, arrest him if he's done something big enough and invent a way they found him. Hell, they could even say they found him on clearnet, the guy isn't gona go "your honor, i sure did buy those illegal drugs online but i used TOR so how did they find out" My current biggest reason to believe TOR isn't breached on a massive scale is that snowden had nothing to show about it.

wkat4242 4y ago

Does that include donors supplying resources in kind though? I'd imagine running a high profile exit node could cost upwards of 10k$ yearly too