[tor-project] The Tor Project Social Contract

[Virgil Griffith]

> Can you show me some citations for this claim? You are the only person
> I've ever heard make the suggestion that half the world is so opposed to
> human rights that they ban any mention of it.

I did not say or imply they ban any mention of human rights.  Merely that
when Western human rights is a stated core goal of the organization, the
government often treats the organization worse.  These organizations are
viewed as "foreign nations wishing to influence internal politics".  And
therefore have an increased risk of being banned.  Everything else being
equal, being banned is harmful to the Tor's most needy users.

As for citations...
* I got my example speaking with a mid-level Infocomm Development Authority
in Singapore where they were causally talking about banning Tor because,
"It creates social unrest.  And what good does it do for us?"  To which I
proposed the whistleblowing, and they seemed satisfied with that answer.

Off the top of my head, I recall two local examples.

* In Singapore they occasionally ban "activist groups".  Here's one famous
example.  Unfortunately I never saw mention of which exact groups/people
were banned.  FWIW, I suspect that if the activists had instead presented
themselves as "anti-corruption" or "anti-colonial-power", they likely would
have been accepted.  As Singapore is *all about these*---the branding
matters.
-- http://www.singapore-window.org/sw06/060917RE.HTM

* This year in Malaysia (about 25km away), they banned a pro-democracy
human rights activist because he was considered "representative of foreign
interference."
-- 
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/01/08/ngos-fume-after-malaysia-kicks-out-indonesian-activist.html


* For larger more western, structured organization, the closest one that
immediately comes to mind is the National Endowment for Democracy.  And
they have been recently banned in both Russia as well as China.
-- 
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/world/europe/national-democratic-institute-banned-russia.html
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_Democracy#China

If you have any particular areas I can try to find examples for those, but
these four examples above are representative of the sorts of things you see
throughout the Southeast Asia region.  China is the most aggressive.  And
Singapore/Indonesia/Malaysia are after that.  Thailand used to represent
the liberal wing of the region, but they had a coup in 2015 and have
cracked down severely.

-V

On Fri, Jul 29, 2016 at 11:14 PM, Alison <macrina at riseup.net> wrote:

> Virgil Griffith:
> > Focusing on human rights gets you on the shit-list for most countries in
> > both Southeast Asia and Africa.  (Combined with China, this comprises
> ~44%
> > of the world population per Wolfram Alpha.)  Presumably, privacy
> naturally
> > dovetails with human rights, but by explicitly stating we are primarily
> > focused on human rights, Tor is likely to be banned in many countries in
> > which it is sorely needed.
>
> Can you show me some citations for this claim? You are the only person
> I've ever heard make the suggestion that half the world is so opposed to
> human rights that they ban any mention of it.
>
> Alison
> _______________________________________________
> tor-project mailing list
> tor-project at lists.torproject.org
> https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-project
>
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