Dive Brief:
- Earlier this month, the BBC reported that Carnegie Mellon received $1 million from the FBI to find vulnerabilities in the Tor anonymity network's software and identify users, but the university has responded by saying the report was inaccurate.
- The BBC reports that the university had a federally funded research and development center to investigate software-related security and engineering issues, but it said it did not receive money from the FBI in exchange for information.
- In a statement responding to BBC reports, Carnegie Mellon said it conducts its own research but complies with federal subpoenas when they are served and receives no funding for this compliance.
Dive Insight:
The Tor network is called the dark web because it gives users an opportunity to interact anonymously. As dark web sites cannot be accessed using traditional browsing methods and user activity is significantly harder to trace, Tor has become a haven for black market sales, including of drugs and other illegal products. In 2014 the FBI took down dozens of Tor sites, and the Tor Project claims it was helped along by researchers at Carnegie Mellon.
The accusations imply university researchers helped identify individuals for law enforcement, which raises significant ethical issues. So far, Carnegie Mellon has not been specific in the information accessed through subpoenas, simply saying it complies with legal requests from law enforcement.