Re: [tor-talk] More and more websites block Tor, which will eventually become useless!

[Matt <matt@xxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 10 Nov 2013 13:37:10 -0500
hikki@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Today I discovered that wiki.debian.org blocks Tor exit nodes. There
> are many other sites doing the same thing, and this is an increasing
> trend among website admins.
> 
> If this trend continues, Tor will sooner or later become close to
> useless for regular clearnet surfing. And we'll be left with hidden
> services only.
> 
> Any ideas how to fix this problem?
> Secret/unlisted exit nodes??

Even though there are only a small number of individuals who abuse the
Tor network, those use cases get the media attention. Exciting
stories about drugs and crime end up being the only the reason that
many regular internet users will read about Tor. I think this public
perception is why so many sysadmins think it's fine to block Tor. I
seem to run into a lot of people who think "Sure there some people
out there who need Tor, like protesters in China, but mostly it's just
used for cp and drugs." These people are lacking in true information,
and need to be informed that the opposite of that sentiment is true:
there are a small number of people out there who use Tor for abuse (just
like on the internet as a whole), but mostly Tor is used by regular
people. 

I think some sort of public advocacy campaign could push back against
this trend. The message of such a campaign ought to be that Tor users
are not criminals or vandals, but regular netizens who believe in a
safe internet. The goal of such a campaign could be to encourage
websites to stop discriminating against Tor users. 

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