Wikipedia has a representative office in Tor

An unofficial darkweb version of the online encyclopedia was launched by the cybersecurity specialist Alec Maffet-Wikipedia in the Onion zone is still available only for reading.

In June of this year, Wikipedia employees announced the creation of a “dark” version of the popular online encyclopedia available via Tor BrowSer so that the resource becomes available in countries where the Internet is exposed to stiffly filtration from the authorities. However, without waiting for the “official” opening of Wiki on the Tor network, the darklight version of the site was launched by a cybersecurity specialist, a former Facebook employee Alec Muffett, who attacked a “onion” version of Facebook, and also created a tool for generating such sites - Enterprise Onion Toolkit, which was used by The New York Times at the end of October.

The darkweb version of the encyclopedia does not have an “official” status-it is a product of the goodwill of Maffetta, who promised that the domain will last several days. The further fate of the "dark" domain depends on the support of the Wiki community.

In many parts of the world, the use of Wikipedia is considered granted - sometimes even special accounts on Twitter are created, which monitor the process of editing a free encyclopedia by civil servants. However, in some countries, such as Türkiye or Syria, the use of Wikipedia can cause some difficulties or even pose a danger, especially for editors. For example, in Turkey, the encyclopedia has been blocked since the authorities limited access to the site after the arrest of a number of dissidents and the failed coup. The Syrian-Palestinian digital activist and editor of Wiki Bassel Khartabil, from the words of his family, was secretly executed by the Syrian government. To make the use of Wikipedia safe for risk users, Alec Maffett and launched the experimental service in the "dark" network.

“I would like to demonstrate to people not just some abstract experience,” says the developer. - And I will be glad if Wikimedia offers its solution or will use the ready. On my part, it is important to demonstrate the concept. ” The service opens through the Tor proxy servers system, which allows you to use the network anonymously and go to Darkweb. The site is available only for reading, it is impossible to edit the articles in it.

The New York Times launches its site in the anonymous network Tor

In Turkey, the “pirate mirror” of Wikipedia was launched after blocking the encyclopedia in the country

The Vikimedia Foundation calls on Turkey authorities to restore access to Wikipedia