[tor-project] The Tor Project Social Contract

[Alison]

Hi all,

Mike Tigas:
> What do we do about future people who want to work on something
> Tor-related of their own creation but do not have the socioeconomic
> means to do it for free? Or if they can't get financial support for it
> by Tor or the other orgs in this space (because they are not networked
> enough in this space, or their idea isn't in a current funding area, or
> etc)? What does it mean if the projects and viewpoints of the "extended"
> Tor community only represent those who already have the means to work on
> things like that?
> 
> What I'm getting at is: I think we shouldn't lose sight of
> developer-accessibility and community-accessibility as we try to reduce
> the barriers for our users. (I think these all go hand-in-hand?) Having
> more people working on this and more diverse representations of cultures
> and experiences involved in this will only surely make us better.
> 
> I do think this *is* noted well by the same point in the Social
> Contract, regarding free ability of use and adaptation and
> redistribution. But just wanted to air that out since I'm not sure that
> view was represented here. (Again, quick thought. Possibly half-baked /
> incomplete / etc.)

This is a VITAL point and I'm so glad you brought it up Mike. Here's a
line from the revised point 3:

"Ability to pay should not be a determining factor in access to our
tools or services"

Do we feel that "access" here covers not just users but potential
contributors? I know you said yes, but I want to be certain that we
cover this because it's essential.

Alison