On Mon, Jun 19, 2017 at 5:35 AM, Tim Starling <tstarling(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
I think we should shut down the relay, which in my opinion is not
mission-aligned, and set up the hidden service, which clearly is
mission-aligned.
In some countries, sharing information with others (even info taken
from Wikimedia project sites), can be illegal. Because of how the
Internet is designed, Traffic analysis is an effective way for
countries to find, monitor, and at times prosecute individuals who are
sharing knowledge that is deemed illegal in their country. Tor helps
protect people against traffic analysis attacks so that they can
communicate, access, and share knowledge and information.
By WMF hosting a Tor relay, I believe they are engaging in a smart and
strategic partnership with others in the Tor Network to help protect
users against traffic analysis attacks.
When viewed as a strategic partnership, I think that hosting a Tor
relay is mission aligned, at least so far as it seems to be aligned
with the work being done by the strategic partnerships and global
outreach, specifically with the goal of "Improving digital privacy",
which is described as follows: "Wikimedia projects maintain a high
standard for digital privacy. The Wikimedia Foundation welcomes
partnerships that help further improve privacy for our readers and
contributors, through both improvement to our projects and to the
global digital and legal infrastructures."
It would be nice if the the partnerships and global outreach team
considered whether or not they felt that hosting a Tor Relay was the
kind of low-cost, low-overhead partnership that helps support digital
privacy for those wanting to safely share and access knowledge.
Josh
--
Joshua Gay -
joshuagay.org