c8820974_Tor_prioritising_uptake

When formulating the initial architecture, the Tor engineers were faced with the following dilemma.

• Greater security meant greater complexity for the user and therefore reduced adoption.

• Less adoption means less security because there are less users on the network and thus individual nodes become easier to track and identify.

Factors that would result in greater security include more cryptographic rigour or more hops. Also additional methods of obfuscation such as mixing and padding.

Both could involve more overhead for the user, which introduces friction and the likelihood of continued use. More hops increases latency which makes everyday use less viable.

Broad uptake and a rich ecosystem including users who were not the main or target beneficiaries (spies, totalitarian subjects) was necessary in order to obscure the activities of the target users.

Source

Ben Collier, Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy (2024)