can we talk abt TOR?

i have heard of this anonymous network called TOR and now i see the EFF is trying to encourage folks to use they cpus as relays

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/06/achievement-unlocked-set-up-tor-relays-get-a-molly-crabapple-poster
https://www.torproject.org/

i am not sure if i understand what this is and why it is important. plus if it was invented by the US navy wouldn't the US govt be all over how to un-anonymize it?

I know some people who use TOR and they insist on making a REALLY FUCKING BIG DEAL ABOUT IT and they are all tedious fuckwits.

what do they say is the big deal about it?

So that THE GOVERNMENT can't track their game of thrones torrents.

but it was invented by the government

i used to use this all the time to get around firewalls at a place I worked (they blocked access to freaking everything). it was horribly slow. reinstalled lately and it's awfully nice. but apparently it's also where you can buy illegals arms, slaves, drugs, and get involved in terrorist networks so I'm a bit leery of using it for just torrenting shit since I'm sure the government has some way of cracking it.