The counter they made has a good point, that you really don't know who is using it; but to suggest that means it's entirely used by criminals is also ridiculous.
What can be known is *how* TOR is being used by setting up studies at exits and seeing what kind of services people are connecting to.  From that, some inference of *who* is using TOR is possible.  Maybe it's the same guy buying cocaine from a black market seller that posts articles on a civil rights abuses site, but it would be silly to make that assumption.

From the usage stats I've seen, the TOR website paints a prettier picture than the truth, but at the same time opponents paint a significantly darker one.

On 05/03/2017 05:00 AM, tor-relays-request@lists.torproject.org wrote:
Good morning,

I recently presented to a group of ten local police chiefs on the topic of Tor and its more common, though less publicized, civil usage, as opposed to the more publicized criminal usage. During my presentation I emphasized this fact, and they countered that because its usage is entirely anonymous, it is reasonable to assume that it could be used entirely by criminals and none of the oppressed as I had claimed.

Which brings me to my question. Other than private individuals saying "Hey, I use Tor for X", how does the overall network know what the network is used for, even approximately?

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Aileron I.T. - "Practical & Proactive I.T. Solutions"

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