Naomi Brockwell [NBTV, Ludlow Institute] on why Tor ecosystem funding matters

Hi, I'm Naomi Brockwell from the Ludlow Institute, a nonprofit focused on advancing freedom through technology. I spend my life talking about privacy and digital rights, and there is a really important event fighting for exactly these things that I want to tell you about. But first, let me tell you why these things matter so much. Privacy is the foundation of a free society. Our lives have migrated to the digital realm, and everything we do has turned into digital data points.

But without privacy, these behaviors can be tracked and controlled, and freedom disappears. Right now, the internet is getting less free, not more. In 2025, global internet freedom declined for the 15th year in a row, with more surveillance and more censorship. And at the same time, there are over 100 privacy and digital freedom tools that are at risk of shutting down due to lack of funding. And without these tools, millions of lives all over the world are at risk, such as journalists protecting their sources, activists organizing under repressive regimes, and ordinary people just trying to speak the truth without being punished for it.

Tools like Tor help protect these people and their fight for freedom. And without these tools, they'd be shut off from the world with no one hearing their voice. That's why I'm supporting what the Tor Project and Funding the Commons are doing, which is running the first Web3 native crowdfunding campaign for the entire internet freedom ecosystem. This fundraiser will fund the immediate development of 11 critical projects, such as things you might already trust, like SecureDrop. It's building a reusable, self-sovereign crowdfunding infrastructure that the community can use again and again, that is resistant to control and censorship.

And it runs on quadratic funding, meaning that a single dollar could be matched up to 100 times. The campaign is live from May 19th through June 18th, and the goal is to raise $500,000. Every dollar donated gets amplified, and every person that you share the campaign with can help. We won't get these tools back once they're gone, so we have to fight to preserve them today. If you'd like more information, go to torproject.

org and help us keep the internet free.