Homeland Security Stopped This Library From Making Tor Available to Public

Browsing online became a service that people watched more carefully after Edward Snowden revealed the extent at which our online activity was being monitored, from every web address to the very content of our private and confidential emails, we were being watched. A library in Lebanon, New Hampshire, decided that in order to support the public and their online activity it would allow its users to use the Tor Service. Tor operates by bouncing your internet traffic around the world, sending it from one place to another essentially masking their online activity and making it very difficult to track down the source of online activity. After they received an email, though, the library have since decided to take another look at this policy.

The email in question comes from the DHS, the department of Homeland Security, who got in contact with the local police who then contacted the library. The initial worries that were raised and have caused the service to be halted was in the end its ability to be used for illegal means.

While the first library for the scheme, many others have apparently expressed interest in supporting the freedom that anonymous browsing would provide its patrons. Would you as a library goer like knowing that your being tracked? What about when you’re at home? Do the risks outweigh the benefits or is there a bigger problem we need to address before we block public use of systems like Tor?

Thank you Ars Technica for the information. 

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.