TOR site - good idea?

Obviously not the correct forum but am having trouble choosing the right one. The usual MODs move it where you will.

I'm looking for opinions and direction.

I've seen a few threads on ATS about using the TOR network and the .onion domains but I don't think any do a good job of addressing what I'm thinking. A brief overview from the TOR site:

Tor was originally designed, implemented, and deployed as a third-generation onion routing project of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. It was originally developed with the U.S. Navy in mind, for the primary purpose of protecting government communications. Today, it is used every day for a wide variety of purposes by normal people, the military, journalists, law enforcement officers, activists, and many others. ...snip...

Journalists use Tor to communicate more safely with whistleblowers and dissidents. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home website while they're in a foreign country, without notifying everybody nearby that they're working with that organization.

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) recommends TOR. Link

Ignoring the expected posts regarding the .onion is used for nothing but kiddie porn, terrorists, subversives, etc., my half baked thought is twofold. First as a backup to my regular publications and as a methodology to produce items that may be what some would call "over the top" - a way to prevent undo attention to my opinions. No, nothing illegal, but the definition of illegal is pretty blurry these days, especially on the internet.


Let's face facts here: web sites are getting shut down, YouTube accounts deleted, URLs seized and who knows what else. Using TOR is just something I do when I want privacy. At the ISP level, well it is what it is however mine does not block access to TOR so I continue to use it.

So opinions. I don't even know how to phrase the question correctly. But it goes like this: I keep cash on hand, precious metals, food, alternative energy equipment and other devices to insure my survival. Should I be doing the same on the internet?

Hopefully that makes sense. I will clarify as we go.

If your talking about keeping your computer and internet traffic secure, I say yes all the way.

There are some good .ONION sites. And according to what I have been reading there are some Anon members that have been collecting data on those who are messing with the kiddie porn.

TOR is not an ALL powerful program that lets you surf Anonymously. Those who are running Exit node are the ones allowing you to use their computer to encrypt the data.

If the TOR exit node user is at the beginning or the end of the TOR chain the they can see something of what you are doing.

Also not a good idea to access any personal email account while using TOR. That will give you away.

You can get easy to set up free accounts like www.safe-mail.net and you can send encripted emails between safe-mail.net to safe-mail.net user.