I recently created a Tor service for this blog - not-currently-available. That means that accessing this site using the Tor Browser is more secure and private. No one will know you are reading this blog, and I won’t know who’s reading this blog.

Don’t know what Tor is? Read this good overview by The Guardian.

Now, I don’t have a need to onionize my personal blog (unlike for example ProPublica or NYTimes). That said, I do think everyone who can, should, setup a Tor hidden service for their websites. This post is not a tutorial (you can find some good ones!), but rather a call to action.

If you care about your readers’/users’ privacy, you should set up a Tor hidden service for your website. For casual bloggers like myself, there really isn’t a need to know the browser window width of a reader. I don’t need to know what OS they are using, I don’t need to know what their mom’s favorite fruit is.

Tor’s user base is as broad and diverse as the services they use: government agents spying on drug markets, dissidents using Facebook, whistle-blowers talking to journalists. Tor is not controlled by anyone or any organization. There is (almost) no mass-surveillance.

For website owners, advertising their Tor service will naturally encourage their readers to learn about and use the Tor network. The more users Tor has, the more secure everyone else is (think: hiding in a very large crowd).

The New York Times reports on stories all over the world, and our reporting is read by people around the world. Some readers choose to use Tor to access our journalism because they’re technically blocked from accessing our website; or because they worry about local network monitoring; or because they care about online privacy; or simply because that is the method that they prefer. NYTimes

The more services that are available on Tor, the more legitimate it gets. Because the New York Times is now on Tor, there is a little bit more credibility and trust to the idea that Tor is not just for drugs, hitmen and criminals.

So, go look up a tutorial, and run a Tor proxy for your website. And while you are at it, run a Tor relay and donate to The Tor Project.