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Putin: Crack Tor for me and I'll make you a MILLIONAIRE

Russian Interior Ministry offers big pile o' roubles for busting pro-privacy browser

Russia's Interior Ministry has posted a tender seeking parties willing to “study the possibility of obtaining technical information about users (user equipment) TOR anonymous network".

The tender appears to be open only to organisations rated to do secret work for the Russian government, but concluding that means the project has political aims may not be sensible.

The local Pirate Party told Global Voices they think the project's origin in the Interior Ministry, rather than a military or intelligence agency, is a sign that pornography is the tender's real target.

It's not unknown for governments to use agencies of convenience to get things done. Government agencies around the world are often terrible at sharing information and assets, as shown by the current push for re-use of code in “government app stores”.

So perhaps this really is the Interior Ministry acting without thought to Russia's less-than-encouraging attitude to political views which are at variance with the ruling party's.

Whatever the aim of the project, there's 3,900,000 roubles - $US 111,000 or £65,500 - up for grabs. ®

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