vandalism appearance at anonymous networks [was: Re: Hello directly from Jimbo at Wikipedia ]

[Sascha <tor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> "everyone is so worried about it, but has any one ever been successfully
> been able to use tor to effectively spam anyone?"
> 
> Yes, of course!  We deal with it constantly.  We have an effective means
> of dealing with it: we block Tor servers from editing wikipedia.  But is
> that what any of us want?
> 
> "Misbehaviour is in the eye of the observer, however."
> 
> No, actually it isn't.  There is such a thing as objectively
> identifiable malicious behavior.  We aren't Chinese censors here.  We're
> the good guys.  We want to work with you.
> 
> Yes, we could implement tight security to only allow people who identify
> themselves (perhaps we'll require a credit card number, someone
> suggests?)... but *cough*, aren't we supposed to care about privacy here?

Hello,

my own experience while being member of an anonymous network, freenet,
is that you encounter mass experiences that you have never met before in
that amount before.

It is that you will be aware or being hit with more flamewars, spam,
unlicenced software, malware and even crime. It is your own choice to
take a look or not.  Following one discussion about this problem one
said, it is because _this_ reflects the real society.

In my eyes this is correct but not the whole truth. It is a mass of
people in addition consisting of DAUs (duemmster anzunehmder User,
german. worst assumed accident, english translation, see Jargon for dau
for further information) to Poweruser (which is maybe analog to lamer)
who are no bad guys nor criminals, but when in the situation "Now you
can do what you want, you won't be punished, what would you do" they act
destructive for fun.

IMHO this is happening to tor, too.

Tor is becoming more public, it is even mentioned and advised in
computer magazins. So the people who use tor, which were geeks in the
beginning, are joined by DAUs and lamers. _This_ is why more tor users
act destructive and this is the reason why more public services come
aware of tor users acting destructive and then they close their service
against tor.

The internet is a dynamic structure and so is the use of tor. It is a
developement we are in and todays use and todays reaction will change.

There will always be destructive elements acting in anonymous space and
I expect the services like wikipedia and others to react more
intelligent in the future.

Blocking tor users is like blocking mail because you get spam, so this
won't work. You have to find another solution, there will always be bad
guys, but not all tor users are bad nor are all internet users.

If you can't stand the current situation, don't just sit and wait, talk
to the people having closed their service. Show them there are tor users
being friendly and respecting them and their service. If you able,
assist them in developing a strategie which detects destructives,
whether being tor or not.

What do you think?

cu
Sascha