[tor-talk] please re-consider Tor Trademark policy

[adrelanos <adrelanos@xxxxxxxxxx>]

These pages are confusing:
http://www.torproject.org/docs/trademark-faq.html.en
https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/LikelyTMViolators

Please re-consider your standpoint.

It's not uncommon to include a part of the name of the original project,
into the name of the derivate/based/related project. Out of respect or
to show how the projects are affiliated. Official or not.

Just examples coming to my mind.

git -> github, gitorious
Firefox -> Firesheep, FasterFox, PortableFirefox
i2p -> i2psnark
BitTorrent -> BitBlender
Tor -> LASTor
eMule -> aMule

There are many more.

It's sad, that a project encouraging free speech has a restrictive
trademark policy.

> Current domain names trying to confuse users with fake or poor
software. Users are currently emailing us asking for help related to
these domains:

I wouldn't use fake and poor software in the same sentence.

Poor is subjective and may be the result of good intend and low skill,
while fake software includes malicious intend, which is much worse.

I also don't think tormail fails in the category of poor software or
poor service. They are offering squirrelmail and pop, and from my
experience, it works  reliable. (Not so much for mailing lists.) For
being the hidden service they are providing a stable service and I am
not sure how they finance the mail exit servers.

Yes, I have a tormail account. No, I don't trust tormail just as I don't
trust any other mail provider.

I don't agree, that tormail is trying to confuse users.

I never thought tormail is affiliated with The Tor Project. They have a
disclaimer at the bottom of their page and before I think any project is
affiliated with the original one, I check that with the original. That
is simply common sense. Not doing so is just bad practice and failing
into such obvious traps, they will mess up anonymity one way or another
anyway.

Fighting anyone having the name "Tor" in their software or domain name
(I am wondering why TorChat hasn't made it into that list.) is offensive
with respect to the work they have done by supporting the original
project with their contribution to the ecosystem.

And if you want stick with enforcing that policy, please inform projects
as you first notice their name, that you preferred a different name. In
the beginning it's easier to change the name, they are more likely to do
it. It might be initially more workload, but there are not *that* many
projects with Tor in their name. Waiting for a long time, then
complaining and perhaps getting a attorney involved creates much more
workload in the long run.
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