In 2006, Tor research was funded was through a no-bid
federal contract awarded to Dingledine’s consulting
company, Moria Labs. And starting in 2007, the Pentagon
cash came directly through the Tor Project itself —
thanks to the fact that Team Tor finally left EFF and
registered its own independent 501(c)(3) non-profit.
How dependent was — and is — Tor on support from
federal government agencies like the Pentagon?
In 2007, it appears that all of Tor’s funding came from
the federal government via two grants. A quarter million
came from the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), a
CIA spinoff that now operates under the Broadcasting Board
of Governors. IBB runs Voice of America and Radio Marti, a
propaganda outfit aimed at subverting Cuba’s communist
regime. The CIA supposedly cut IBB financing in the 1970s
after its ties to Cold War propaganda arms like Radio Free
Europe were exposed.
The second chunk of cash — just under $100,000 — came
from Internews, an NGO aimed at funding and training
dissident and activists abroad. Tor’s subsequent tax
filings show that grants from Internews were in fact
conduits for “pass through” grants from the US State
Department.
