George: > I thought it might be interesting for others to hear some of the > questions that arose in the discussion at the NYC Tor event on Feb 15 > this past week. > > https://blog.torproject.org/explore-tor-nyc-meetup-feb-15/ > > This list isn't exhaustive, but it may connect with others on this list, > and could possibly provide more materials for the Tor Project FAQ > (https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en). I didn't attempt to > provide details on the answers and I did miss a part of the discussion, > although I provide some comments. Any inaccuracies/commentary are > attributable to me and me alone. > > * Why is Tor {weak|underutilized} *there*?/What causes the waves and > troughs in Tor usage in a particular country? > > This question arose in the context of certain countries which see > significant jumps then declines in usage. The well-known cases of usage > spikes is usually tied to political turbulence in a particular country, > in which internet censorship becomes a tactic of repression. But in > other cases, there might be the adoption of "real identity" tied to > online accounts, or blocking of specific messaging applications. > > * Why do Akamai/CloudFlare and other man-in-the-middle type services > block Tor? > > There have been changes in the CloudFlare configuration where the "block > Tor knob" is off by default. Blocking Tor isn't just based on the FUD of > "Tor users are all bad" but often it's recognized as a tool of > commercial competition. For instance, firm's might be concerned about > comment spam or derisive comments from a competitor. > > * Do *they* know if I download TAILS/Tor Browser? > > *They* in this case could be any wide-seeing adversary, which could be > your ISP, corporate management or one three-letter government agency or > another. > > This is a common question in my experiences. But despite fumbling > through an array of answers, Roger offered an elegant answer with: Are > you more concerned about the adversary seeing you downloaded TAILS, or > them seeing the www sites you visit? > > * .onion sites > > There was some discussion about perceptions about and use of .onion > services, and why we say ".onion" as opposed to the hidden web/"Dark > Net"/etc. > > While many (particularly in the media) refer to the frequency of the > "ugly" residing on .onion services, Facebook is actually the most > visited site. Some month in the past, some 1 million users accessed the > .onion site, which represented 1/16 of that month's Facebook users. That > may point to the future trajectory of .onion sites. Just because in > absolute terms there's lots of loopy www sites there, they aren't > representative of the full-scope of .onion traffic in relative terms. Quick correction with full details later, but my Facebook .onion statement is incorrect as-is, and needs some clarification. > > * Tor and The End of Net Neutrality: What Impact? > > The bluntly honest answer was "who knows?" since each state seems to be > countering federal legislation. And as an overlay network, Tor users > might actually be a useful too to mitigate legislation. > > * Running an Exit Node > > Much of the discussion is directly addressed by Tor documentation, but I > can imagine that a meeting specifically on the topic may be relevant in > the future, at least in a place where there is a significant > concentration of non-exit relay operators wanting to take the plunge. > > **** > > The discussion prompted a lot of other relevant questions and comments, > but that's a quick survey of some I thought that were interesting. > > g > > > > > -- 34A6 0A1F F8EF B465 866F F0C5 5D92 1FD1 ECF6 1682
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