Tails is a live operating system, that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD or a USB stick. It aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity, and helps you to:

- use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship;
- all connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network;
- leave no trace on the computer you are using unless you ask it explicitly;
- use state-of-the-art cryptographic tools to encrypt your files, emails and instant messaging.

It is a complete operating system designed to be used from a DVD or a USB stick independently of the computer's original operating system. It is Free Software and based on Debian GNU/Linux.

Tails comes with several built-in applications pre-configured with security in mind: web browser, instant messaging client, email client, office suite, image and sound editor, etc.

Using Tails on a computer doesn't alter or depend on the operating system installed on it. So you can use it in the same way on your computer, a friend's or one at your local library. After removing your Tails DVD or USB stick the computer can start again on its usual operating system.

Tails is configured with special care to not use the computer's hard-disks, even if there is some swap space on them. The only storage space used by Tails is the RAM, which is automatically erased when the computer shuts down. So you won't leave any trace neither of the Tails system nor of what you did on the computer. That's why we call it "amnesic".

This allows you to work on sensitive documents on any computer and protect you from data recovery after shutdown. Of course, you can still explicitly save some documents to another USB or external hard-disk and take them away for future use.