Moritz Bartl has just posted some good news. Torservers.net, a volunteer run organisation spread across eight countries which provides high bandwidth Tor servers to the network, has just been awarded $250.000 over two years by the Digital Defenders Partnership. According to Bartl’s press release, with this additional funding:
participating Torservers organizations will be able to sustain at least 3 Gbit/s of exit traffic, and 2000 fast and up to date bridges.
Tor has often been criticised for receiving much of its funding from the US Government. The funding mechanism has led some observers to question Tor’s independence. Separate funding streams such as this one can only be a good thing.
Although Digital Defenders appears also to receive much of its funding from Governments (including the US and UK), its website says that onward funding decisions are made by an independent assessment committee. That panel comprises a mix of journalists, security researchers and advocates and politicians.