The Tor Project has launched a campaign asking for help to increase the amount of bridges (bridges) available in the private network, since there are currently very few and these can end up being blocked in their entirety, especially in sites where users depend on the network to bypass censorship.
Tor bridges are basically repeaters that are not listed in the public Tor directory, they are especially useful for users connecting from sites under oppressive regimes where governments and ISPs try to block access to the Tor network.
Launch a Tor bridge, win a t-shirt
Currently the Tor network has approximately 1200 bridges, of which 900 support the obfs4 protocol, a layer of obfuscation of TCP protocols whose purpose is to prevent a third party from knowing which protocol is being used based on the content of the messages.
The goal of the ‘Run a Bridge’ campaign is to increase those numbers by bringing in over 200 bridges using obfs4 before the end of the year. The campaign will end on February 7, 2022. If you want to collaborate, Tor offers detailed instructions on how to start a bridge, it is not exactly easy, but at least it does not require a lot of resources from your machine or bandwidth, and you will be collaborating with a major cause.
In addition to this, the organization is offering some rewards to those who dare to ride a bridge or more. For instance, If you run 10 bridges for at least a year, they will give you a kit with a sweatshirt, two t-shirts and a pack of stickers.
There are also rewards for riding 5, 2, or a single bridge. If you only mount one, you will enter a lottery to win a shirt. If you don’t have the technical knowledge to build a bridge, but want to help anyway, you can do things like:
Run a Snowflake proxy. You don’t need a dedicated server and you can run a proxy simply by installing an extension in your browser. The extension is available for Firefox and Chrome. You don’t have to worry about the websites that people access through your proxy. Their visible browsing IP address will match their Tor exit node, not yours.
You can make a donation to the Tor Project.
You can help translate Tor materials and documentation, including information on setting up a bridge.
Or, you can simply share your support for the operation and use of Tor bridges on social media.
Via | mixx.io