OperaTor, I believe, is simply a web browser that has been configured to work well with Tor. Tor, as I am sure you're aware, is simply an implementation of onion routing. The idea is basically to bump your data around the world with as much anonymity between the nodes as possible. There is no encryption in the first and final stages, I believe.
Tor also supports so called hidden services. These are web sites, irc channels, etc. that are invisible to users of the Internet not running Tor. They are distinguished by the spoofed top level domain .onion. A large percentage of the traffic on these hidden sites is linked to illegal activity.
When I got my new computer I was determined to be more secure, simply for the principle of it. I tried turning off cookies and java and the rest. It turns out that the web is more or less useless when you disable these. I had heard about Tor from privacy advocate sites and I thought that it might be a solution so I got it all running. Shortly thereafter, a friend noticed the icon on my computer and gave me some serious shit for having it loaded.
Tor also supports so called hidden services. These are web sites, irc channels, etc. that are invisible to users of the Internet not running Tor. They are distinguished by the spoofed top level domain .onion. A large percentage of the traffic on these hidden sites is linked to illegal activity.
When I got my new computer I was determined to be more secure, simply for the principle of it. I tried turning off cookies and java and the rest. It turns out that the web is more or less useless when you disable these. I had heard about Tor from privacy advocate sites and I thought that it might be a solution so I got it all running. Shortly thereafter, a friend noticed the icon on my computer and gave me some serious shit for having it loaded.