Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features. It provides the foundation for a range of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy. Individuals can use it to keep remote Websites from tracking them and their family members. They can also use it to connect to resources such as news sites or instant messaging services that are blocked by their local Internet service providers (ISPs).
Changes: This release reduces directory overhead, provides enormous crypto performance improvements for fast relays on recent hardware, a new v3 TLS handshake protocol that can better resist fingerprinting, support for protocol obfuscation plugins, better scalability for hidden services, IPv6 support for bridges, performance improvements like allowing clients to skip the first round-trip on the circuit ("optimistic data") and refilling token buckets more often, a new "stream isolation" design to isolate different applications on different circuits, and many stability, security, and privacy fixes.