Last week the Tor Project announced a new alpha release 0.2.4.1 that includes as one of its major features expanded support for IPv6. From the release notes:
- Bridge authorities now accept IPv6 bridge addresses and include them in network status documents. Implements ticket 5534.
- Clients who set “ClientUseIPv6 1” may connect to entry nodes over IPv6. Set “ClientPreferIPv6ORPort 1” to make this even more likelyto happen. Implements ticket 5535.
- All kind of relays, not just bridges, can now advertise an IPv6 OR port. Implements ticket 6362.
- Directory authorities vote on IPv6 OR ports using the new consensus method 14. Implements ticket 6363.
This builds on an earlier 0.2.39 alpha in December 2011 that introduced initial IPv6 support and follows on some plans for IPv6 support written earlier in 2011.
If you are not familiar with the Tor Project it is a widely used tool for protecting your privacy and enabling anonymous use of the Internet without being tracked. The history of Tor is quite interesting because it originated with a desire within the U.S. Navy to protect online government communications but today is used by many people who want to access Internet services without exposing their identity and/or location.
Tor has many uses across a wide range of fields… and now, at least in an early release version, it can work even better across IPv6!