The Significance of Online Privacy: An Interview with The Tor Project’s Executive Director

Isabela Bagueros is the Executive Director of The Tor Project. She joined the project as a manager in 2015, after spending four years as a product manager in Twitter’s International Trade and Growth division. Isabela has been using free and open-source software (FOSS) since the late 1990s, and in 2007, she co-founded and managed projects for North by South, a San Francisco-based startup specializing in FOSS projects in Latin America.

When did you realize the importance of online privacy? Was there a turning point?

This happened in the early 2000s. At the time, I was working with a team that used online tools. For the most part, we used FOSS that we hosted ourselves. I think that experience gave me an understanding of the data generated when using the internet and digital tools. Now, whenever I choose a service or solution, I keep that in mind. Today, we run workshops to teach people how the internet works. We always emphasize the importance of protecting your information and knowing who has access to it, where it’s stored, and so on.

What do you like most about working at The Tor Project?

I think it’s the people who are part of the organization. Our mission brings together many wonderful and very smart people, and I love that we accomplish so much with limited resources.

How has Tor grown so much over the years, and why do you think that is?

The turning point was when Snowden released documents in 2013. I believe the increase in Tor users is closely tied to people becoming more aware of the importance of privacy, as well as the rise of censorship worldwide. Our job is to improve the user interface and make Tor so easy to use that people don’t notice any difference between it and direct access to online services.

As the Executive Director of Tor, how do you inspire and motivate your team?

I strive to create an organization that is a safe space and offers a support network for everyone involved, so they can do their best work. By communicating this to my team, I believe I motivate them to work toward Tor’s mission, which inspires all of us to work together.

Are there any upcoming changes or additions to Tor you can share?

I want to highlight that very soon, version 2 onion services will no longer work, and users need to switch to version 3 by October—the sooner, the better. We’re sharing this information in our newsletter, blog, and social media to make sure everyone transitions in time.

Another cool update: you can now get DV certificates for your onion V3 site through HARICA, a root certificate authority operated by the Academic Network (GUnet), a nonprofit from Greece.

I’m also looking forward to the results of the work Nick Mathewson and other network team members are doing to implement Tor in the Rust programming language—called Arti. They’re building Tor in a high-level language with security features, making it easier to use. This will allow us to create a “lighter” Tor with a more reliable API—a long-standing wish of developers who want to integrate Tor into their applications.

Additionally, I want to mention our Tor Browser release in June. The new version significantly improves the user interface.

What do you recommend for better online privacy? Any tools or tips?

The first step is to realize that all your online actions generate data about you, which is stored. There are no real regulations preventing this data from being sold by “data brokers” and consumed by thousands of companies profiting from such information. So, the first step is to care about protecting the information you enter, the safety of the links you click, and your online actions.

Next, get into the habit of using privacy settings. Most people never do this, but it’s important to see just how bad things are. And demand change. User complaints and new legislation force the industry to think about privacy. There’s a chain of actions that can help you achieve better online privacy faster.

As for tools, I recommend the Tor Browser for web browsing. For text messaging and voice/video calls, use Signal. For file sharing, try OnionShare.

How do you spend your free time? Do you have any hobbies or interests?

I enjoy dancing salsa and other Latin American dances.