Russia blocks TOR, the web anonymity service

Russian activists reported that their country's authorities blocked the TOR (The Onion Router) web anonymity service.

It is encryption software that allows users to browse the Internet in a "stealth" way and avoid the restrictions on the web decreed in that territory.

An estimated 300,000 Russians use this software every day, which is equivalent to 15 percent of total TOR users.

"Access to illegal content"

Roskomnadzor, the state communications surveillance body, explained that it included the TOR browser website in its registry of prohibited information since it published "information that guarantees the operation of tools that provide access to an illegal content," as indicated by a spokesman.

For its part, in a statement published on the platform's website, TOR confirmed that it is blocked in Russia due to a decision by local authorities.

"The Russian government has officially blocked our main website in Russia," said the statement from the TOR developers, who announced that in early December the first reports of this blocking were registered.

Those behind this service invited the international community to exert pressure for the authorities to reverse this controversial official determination.