ABSTRACT
In 1991, the US government took another step towards improving its capacity to gather information transmitted over the internet, calling on manufacturers of secure communications equipment to insert special 'trapdoors' in their products, so that the government could read anyone's encrypted messages. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency and the Department of Justice went so far as to demand tough laws that would mandate the public to use only government-approved encryption products or adhere to government encryption criteria. Edward Snowden was already deeply involved with Tor, running a server known as The Signal, one of the system's exit relays. According to internet freedom organisation Electronic Frontier Federation the exit relay is the most dangerous part of the Tor network to operate. Because the Tor traffic joins the internet through these relays, the Internet Protocol address, which can identify the user, is seen by everyone using the net as the gateway for the traffic.
