Of course it's still possible to exploit any software you might be running behind the router. That is why I agree it should be just one of many steps you ought

Of course it's still possible to exploit any software you might be running behind the router. That is why I agree it should be just one of many steps you ought to take if you care about anonymity. I never said this is a plug-and-play solution to internet anonymity. Still, hiding your IP address is one important factor in anonymity and probably the biggest use-case for Tor. Using a separate, dedicated device for this purpose makes it practically impossible for your IP address to leak e.g. because of a browser exploit. Case in point, when the FBI busted users of child porn sites in 2013, they used a Zero-day in Firefox [1] to leak the users IP addresses. This would not have worked for users with a device like this. They could've tried to gather evidence through other means using this exploit, but that's definitely harder than simply opening a network connection and would only work in cases where the exploit could access anything that would identify the user. (Obviously I'm not unhappy about child porn users getting busted, but I thought it would serve as a good example.) [1]: https://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2013/mfsa2013-53.html https://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2013/mfsa2013-53.h...