So-called artificial intelligence systems soared in popularity, supercharging political [disinformation](https://www.wired.com/story/slovakias-election-deepfakes-show-ai-is-a-danger-to-democracy/)[programs](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/19/ai-generated-disinformation-us-elections).Internet shutdowns and slowdowns became [firmly entrenched](https://www.accessnow.org/publication/internet-shutdowns-in-2023-mid-year-update/)in authoritarian toolkits to censor progressive speech. And the [continuing revelations](https://securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2023/11/serbia-civil-society-threatened-by-spyware/)of zero-click attacks drove home the perilous omnipotence of the military-digital complex.
We built a state-of-the-art 3-year strategy to make Tails a formidable adversary to these powerful, repressive forces. We made plans to better understand the use of Tails by journalists and activists, and understand and improve the use of Tails in the [majority world](https://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/articles/shahidul-alam-on-the-majority-world/).All this while introducing new features and improvements to existing features that make Tails even more relevant.
[[Tails 5.8|news/version_5.8/]] was one of the most important Tails releases in years. In Tails 5.8, we unveiled a brand new Persistent Storage. The new Persistent Storage doesn't require restarting after creation or any time after you activate a new feature. It also made it easier to persist more settings.The icing on the cake: a dashing makeover for the Persistent Storage!
We didn't stop there. We also continued to add functionality to the Persistent Storage. Now, it is easier to both do [[backups of the whole Persistent Storage|news/version_5.14/]] and [[delete the data of a each feature|news/version_5.12/]].
We also introduced better password practices for securing the Persistent Storage. Randomly generated [diceware](https://diceware.dmuth.org/) passphrases and an upgraded encryption format make the Persistent Storage [[exponentially more secure|security/argon2id]].
The Tor Connection Assistant is slicker. We improved the error messaging when connecting automatically to the Tor network and the handling of captive portals.
Connecting to Tor is only part of the story. At times, Tails users may find themselves on slow Tor circuits. And worse, unable to troubleshoot issues. So, we've made it easier to close pesky Tor circuits that we can sometimes land on.
