Security guru Schneier joins Tor Project board along with five other luminaries

All change at the top at Tor

The Tor Project, the not-for-profit organisation that develops the eponymous anonymisation and anti-surveillance software, has appointed six new board members.

Jacob Appelbaum, one of the leading lights of the organisation, was asked to resign in May following allegations of sexual misconduct. While Appelbaum continues to refute the claims, all seven of Tor's incumbent board members agreed to step aside to allow the organisation to make a fresh start. Those exiting the organisation's boardroom were Meredith Hoban Dunn, Ian Goldberg, Julius Mittenzwei, Rabbi Rob Thomas, Wendy Seltzer, Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson.

They have been replaced by six luminaries from the security and privacy spheres. The Tor Project blog provides biographies of the incomers.

Perhaps the best-known name is author and security expert Bruce Schneier, whose latest book Data and Goliath looks at the tension between surveillance by governments and corporations in the digital age and the individual's right to privacy. He is also a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advisory board member of EPIC and VerifiedVoting.org, a special adviser to IBM Security and the CTO of Resilient.

Schneier (pictured) is joined by Matt Blaze, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who has been researching surveillance technology for more than 20 years and has expertise in cryptography, secure systems and public policy.

Lawyer Cindy Cohn is the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Cohn has mounted lawsuits against NSA spying, provided legal counsel to computer programmers building and developing privacy and anonymity tools, and helped to develop the Necessary and Proportionate Principles applying international human rights standards to digital communications surveillance.

Academic and author Gabriella Coleman is another new addition. She holds the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy at McGill University and her works on privacy and security include the books Coding Freedom: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Hacking and Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous.

Linus Nordberg is an internet and privacy activist who has been involved with Tor since 2009. He is a software developer specialising in network security and operating internet services.

The sixth new board member is technologist and activist Megan Price, executive director of the Human Rights Data Analysis Group and a member of the technical advisory board for the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, among other responsibilities.

Speaking of the decision of the previous board members to step aside, executive director Shari Steele said: "I think this was an incredibly brave and selfless thing for the board to do. They're making a clear statement that they want the organisation to become its best self."

Recruiting the new members was not a problem, Steele told the New York Times.

"All of them had been watching what was going on with Tor and were committed and enthusiastic about growing this into a stronger and sustainable organisation," she said.