The Tor project, through a post on its blog, has announced that it is starting a collaboration with Tails, the team behind the open source operating system, representing a new stage for Tails in which it can count on greater support and a platform. bigger with which to continue growing.
Tails was born in 2009 with the goal of being a free and secure operating system, with pre-installed tools that promote Internet privacy and the transfer of information without censorship. Tails connects by default to the Onion network, the network of decentralized servers that Tor uses to offer anonymous Internet browsing.
According to the statements made by the leader of the Tails team, Intrigeri, this new stage has arisen from an approach that his team made towards Tor in 2023. «Manage Tails as an independent project for 15 years It has been a great effort, but not for the reasons you might expect. The hardest part wasn’t the technology, but managing critical tasks like fundraising, finance, and human resources. After trying to manage them in different ways, I’m really relieved that Tails is now under the wing of the Tor Project. In a way, it feels like coming home.”
That is to say, now Tor, being a larger project and with a larger infrastructure, will protect and fuel the growth of Tails as a complement for private and free Internet use, in the context of the current trend by which large companies They seek to extract data from their users, as well as the problems with press freedom that some countries experience.
«Joining Tor means we will finally have the ability to reach more people who need Tails. “We have known for a long time that we needed to increase our reach, but we simply did not have the resources to do so,” explains Intrigeri.
For her part, the executive director of the Tor Project, Isabela Fernandes, noted that “by joining forces, we are ensuring that activists, journalists and everyday users have access to safer and more sustainable tools for online privacy. With our long history of working together, we’re now making it official! “Our merger means faster collaboration, broader reach, and stronger privacy tools for everyone.”
Tails, the most private operating system
Although Tor is a larger team, Tails It is also very well known among free software fans and Internet rights defenders. It is a portable operating system, that is, lightweight, easy to install and well equipped with the necessary software to communicate over the Internet securely and privately, without other actors being able to track communications.
That is why Edward Snowden himself said in his day that he used it while uncovering what would be one of the most notorious journalistic cases of the 21st century. Other journalists and activists also recommend its use when managing sensitive information or that could compromise people in authoritarian regimes or other situations.
