BBC Goes To The Darkside On Tor
The BBC has launched a Tor-based version of its news website with the aim to avoid governments the free flow of information around the world. Tor is privacy software that uses the dark web so that it can hide who is using the browser which enables the user to avoid government monitoring and censorship.
Countries such as Russia, China, Iran and Vietnam have tightened efforts over recent years to monitor and control what their citizens can access online.
Tor, short for The Onion Router routes data in highly complex patterns across the Internet. As well as allowing users to visit normal websites anonymously, it can also be used as part of a process to host hidden sites, which use the .onion suffix.
Tor's users include the military, law enforcement officers and journalists, as well as members of the public who wish to keep their browser activity secret.
But it has also been associated with illegal activity, allowing people to visit sites offering illegal drugs for sale and access to child abuse images, which do not show up in normal search engine results and would not be available to those who did not know where to look.
“The BBC World Service's news content is now available on the Tor network to audiences who live in countries where BBC News is being blocked or restricted,” the BBC said in a statement.... This is in line with the BBC World Service mission to provide trusted news around the world.”
Foreign language services including BBC Arabic, BBC Persian and BBC Russian will be available via the new service, hinting at some of the regions that are affected most by state-level censorship.
The announcement highlights the benefits of the dark web to many users around the world, including rights activists, journalists and ordinary citizens who may otherwise be persecuted by authoritative regimes. It’s a counterpoint to most news about such sites, which focus on the dark web marketplaces for drugs, weapons and other illegal goods.
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