Re: Tor Exit Node Sponsorship - looking for partners

[andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

On Thu, May 13, 2010 at 09:32:29PM -0400, waterwaiter@xxxxxxx wrote 2.3K bytes in 52 lines about:
: This is not an entrepreneurial proposition all. I'm merely talking about exposing the end-users to the financial realities of operating the service, and inviting them to help in a more obvious way. I'm NOT suggesting blatant nagware. "Gentle" is the word used, and I certainly never said pop-ups.

Can we split entrepreneurial from bad?  I don't see the two as one
concept.  If someone figures out a way to increase fast exit relays and
preserve user privacy/anonymity and make money, more power to them. We
as the non-profit aren't going to stand in their way.  I'm glossing over
lots issues, but in general, trying and failing until you succeed is a
fine plan as any.

: Forget my comment about technically-minded users for a moment. My question really should read: "Are there a significant body of end users of Tor who do not understand how it fundamentally works?"

Yes.  And more frequently, people are responding to the fear of Internet
surveillance (ad networks, search conglomeration, traffic analysis, etc)
by installing Tor because someone or somewhere told them it was a fine
solution to these problems.  These people don't understand what they
fear and do not understand what Tor gives them.  I've heard repeatedly
something like, "I installed Tor, have a green onion, and my IE browsing
is just as fast as before.  I feel so much safer knowing Tor is
protecting me."  Disturbingly, I'm hearing more often, "It's great that
I login to my facebook/twitter account via Tor so they don't know who I
am and my privacy is protected."

As we attract a less technical user, we need to do a better job
communicating a very complex problem in simpler terms.  The video's
Freedom House did for Tor have been a help in this regard.  We're
working on this, but finding usability people that can take all of our
usability problems and finding solutions has been difficult.  Work
continues.

-- 
Andrew Lewman
The Tor Project
pgp 0x31B0974B

Website: https://www.torproject.org/
Blog: https://blog.torproject.org/
Identi.ca: torproject
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