[tor-talk] Illegal Activity As A Metric of Tor Security and Anonymity

[coderman]

On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 2:56 PM, Mark McCarron <mark.mccarron at live.co.uk> wrote:
> Basically, I keep a track of site numbers year-on-year, site availability from 3rd party monitoring and read comments on forums and chat.

from this you draw too many unsupported conclusions.



> Whilst it may be good in some sense, it states that Tor is failing in its primary task of promoting freedom through anonymity.

freedom to communicate is very different from freedom of consequences
for your actions.  if you are posting material incriminating yourself
harming another, do you think the evidence is solely digital and
ephemeral?

"good old fashioned police work" identifies criminals harming others
effectively, and outside the scope of "private network communication".

the markets you allude to, drug trade and sex crimes, perhaps a less
appropriate measure - consider cyber crime where information trade
alone is the offense, and you've got a better metric for the privacy
protections of illicit infotrade across digital networks.

last but not least, to the extent that these sites distributing
deplorable content (rape of earth humans) represented a failure in
enforcement, it seems logical that a vigilante response would develop.
these may have significant impact on availability, yet say more about
the general insecurity of software systems and digital networks more
than anything specific about Tor's privacy protections.




>  In fact, it would seem that Tor is having the opposite effect, silencing everyone through fear...
> So, the question remains, what is wrong with the Anonymity and Security of Tor?

flawed assumptions, invalid premises. i disagree entirely!


best regards,