When you load a website in a normal web browser like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge, you make a connection over the internet directly from your house (or wherever you happen to be) to the web server you’re loading. The website can see where you are coming from (and track you), and your internet service provider can see which website you’re loading (and track what you’re doing and sell advertising based on your activity).
But if you open Tor Browser and load the same website, none of those parties can spy on you. Even Tor itself won’t know what you’re up to. Within the network, consisting of thousands of nodes run by volunteers across the internet, you do not connect from your house directly to the web server. Instead, your connection first bounces between three Tor nodes and then finally exits the Tor network and goes to the website. The website can’t see where you’re coming from, only that you’re using Tor. Your ISP can’t see what website you’re visiting, only that you’re using Tor. And the Tor nodes themselves can’t fully track you either. The first node can see your home IP address, because you connect directly to it, but can’t see what site you’re loading, and the last node (also called the exit node) can see what site you’re loading but doesn’t know your IP address.
Link: Browse The Intercept Anonymously and Securely Using Our New Tor Onion Service
via theintercept.com
