Turkey blocks access to Tor browsing network

BBC- Turkey has blocked direct access to the Tor anonymous browsing network as part of a wider crackdown on the ways people circumvent internet censorship.

The crackdown began last month when Turkish ISPs were told to cut off the virtual private networks people use to hide where they go.

Many people are changing the way they connect to Tor to avoid the block.

Activists said the block moved Turkey’s net censorship policies from “moderate” to “severe”.

Tor, also known as The Onion Router, aims to conceal where people go online by using encryption and randomly bouncing requests for webpages through a network of different computers.

The system has become popular in many nations, such as China and Turkey, where governments are known to watch what people do and say online.

Now Turkey Blocks, which monitors internet censorship in the nation, said its regular monitoring of Tor showed that it was being widely blocked across the country.

The organisation started to investigate after many people in Turkey reported having problems reaching the Tor network.