In Canada, the legality of running a Tor node is essentially untested, making the high profile, institutionally-backed node at Western a potential target for the feds.

Tor is touted as a tool for people, such as journalists, to keep their browsing habits safe from spies and police. But more nefarious traffic, such as drug dealing or child pornography, also passes through the network. A small public library in New Hampshire began operating a Tor node last year, and faced pressure from the Department of Homeland Security to shut it down. The library resisted, and the node is still running.

"Frankly, in some ways, I would like to see them try"

"If any intelligence agency or law enforcement tries to intervene again, we will do the same thing that we did in New Hampshire: we will rally community support, we will get our very broad coalition of public interest organizations and luminary individuals, and amazing supporters, to support Western," said Alison Macrina, director of the Library Freedom Project and adviser to the Tor project at Western.