[adrtessier]

I agree with you 100% that Tor has its problems, and that it is a research project. It is not, and I do not believe it is, a panacea for strong anonymity on the web, and it is not intended to provide protection against a lot of things people think Tor provides protection from.

However, I disagree with your statement that Tor is not worth continued support. Even with its imperfections, I believe the Tor Project community is still working toward useful and productive goals on anonymity research, and is still a flagship of that to the greater public that is interested in protecting their privacy online. Maintaining a basic level of support for these ideals is parallel to Tor, but Tor in many ways is also a representative outlet for them.

Regardless of Tor's actual effectiveness, Tor's current profile is likely to make it the first anonymity tool of its kind to get attacked in the courts, especially if someone can do more than pretend there is a link between Tor and Islamic terrorism. How the Tor Project handles the litigation and political process that will stem from this heat will probably set case law, and with it court precedent, for other anonymity tools that come in its future. In that regard, Tor could become the PGP of the so-called second crypto wars.