[global-south] next steps from Tor Meeting

[Alison]

Gunnar Wolf:
> Alison dijo [Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 07:41:00PM +0000]:
>> Hola todos/todas!
> 
> Hi!
> 
> Just by absolute chance, I entered today to look for some information
> on the Tor Project site, and came across this list. Immediately
> subscribed and hooked! :-D

That's awesome.

> 
> I'm answering to a couple of the points in this list's opening mail.
> 
>> * Create local Tor meetups and have Tor Project provide resources
>> (money, people, other materials)
>> * Hold the Tor Meeting in the Global South
>> (...)
>> * More Tor infrastructure in the Global South (relays, DirAuths,
>> BWAuths, etc)
> 
> Wow! This fits us perfectly. I'm just starting a group effort to get
> some students to work on Tor in the University I work at (Facultad de
> Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), setting up at
> least a relay, but quite probably a full exit node... Lets see how
> this develops. But so far, it looks like I *have* to be in this list
> :)

That's great to hear. What kind of help do you need? Where can we send
some Tor stickers for you all? Have you met ilv? He's on this list and
he runs relays in Latin America.

>> One thing I'd like to prioritize personally is holding the Tor Meeting
>> in the Global South. We discussed some possible locations and some of
>> the metrics we'd need to consider in identifying good places. Those
>> metrics include:
>> - overall cost
>> - visa requirements
>> - length of travel from the EU and the US/Canada (though we will
>> consider this, we discussed how people in the Global South have had to
>> deal with long travel times to the EU for all past meetings, so if we
>> find a good place that is a great distance from the EU, so be it)
> 
> Ummm... Well, having a meeting in the Global South (lets be pragmatic:
> As I understand it, it mostly means "in Latin America") is complicated
> enough as our distances are way larger than what Europeans are used to
> (and USA-ians often frown upon international travel, mainly to this
> "underdeveloped backyard")...
> 
> Don't you think it's more important to hold this in a place where
> Latin Americans can travel to more easily? Getting some tens of
> Europeans or USA-ians won't be too hard. Moving Latin Americans is
> usually tougher, as money has a different scale and all...

I understand your reasoning here, but we discussed this a lot at the
Amsterdam meeting and many people agreed that it's imperative to have
some of our annual meetings in the Global South for the sake of building
community in those regions. We also talked about ways to make it easier
for people from the Global South to come to meetings in EU or US/Canada,
like simply getting the invites out earlier so that people could have
time to work out their visas.

>> - internet speeds
>> - possible conference center locations
>> - Tor's relationship to the local community (the relationship as it
>> exists, and opportunities to build it more)
>>
>> Any other data points that we should consider? Anyone want to throw out
>> some initial ideas for host cities? Some of the cities already discussed
>> a bit include Quito, Mexico City, São Paulo, and Lima. There was some
>> rough consensus that South America is the best first place for a meeting
>> in the South, but it would be great to hear from people who disagree on
>> that.
> 
> I jumped upon reading this. As I explained in my previous paragraph,
> even though I'd *love* it to be in Mexico City, I think we are too
> much on the edge of the region. Also, our country is not (by far) the
> most visa-friendly to Latin Americans.

The visa issue is one that gives Mexico City a heavy downvote. Some
things in its favor: very inexpensive for US/Canada travel and pretty
inexpensive for EU travel, great food and culture. But I also have a
bias because the flight there for me takes only about an hour from Texas! :)

> But, FWIW, if Mexico were to be chosen (and you don't have any better
> contacts in here), I can provide (with 90% probability) very good
> facilities at my workplace, the country's largest university, either
> at a research institute or at a faculty surrounded by eager students.
> 

This is another big vote for Mexico then!

Alison

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