.tor is a
pseudo-top-level domain
A pseudo-top-level domain is a label or name for a computer network that is not participating in the world-wide official Domain Name System and may not even participate in the Internet, but may use a similar domain name hierarchy. Historically the ...
host suffix implemented by the OnioNS project, which aims to add
DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed name service that provides a naming system for computers, services, and other resources on the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various informatio ...
infrastructure to the
Tor network
Tor is a free overlay network for enabling anonymous communication. It is built on free and open-source software run by over seven thousand volunteer-operated relays worldwide, as well as by millions of users who route their Internet traffic ...
enabling the selection of meaningful and globally-unique domain name for hidden services, which users can then reference from the Tor Browser.
Mission
The project aims to address the major usability issue that has been with Tor hidden services since their introduction in 2002.
Overview
Beta release of the server, client and domain name reservation tool (so called hidden service) software parts and their supporting common library were announced in the Tor developers mailing list in August 2015.
According to the description on the projects gitsite
"OnioNS is a distributed, privacy-enhanced, metadata-free, and highly usable DNS for Tor hidden services"
The system is powered by the Tor network, relies on a distributed
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
, and provides anonymity to both operators and users.
See also
*
OnioNS
An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classified ...
*
.onion
References
Pseudo-top-level domains
.tor
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