[tor-teachers] Open, Onion and Off-the-Record == O3? Ozone?

[Nathan of Guardian]

On Wed, Nov 4, 2015, at 10:41 AM, J.M. Porup wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 04, 2015 at 10:23:38AM -0500, Nathan of Guardian wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > On Wed, Nov 4, 2015, at 10:02 AM, J.M. Porup wrote:
> > > > >> Perhaps, calling it Ozone, is too clever, but just using the phrase
> > > > >> "Open, Onion and Off-the-Record" is an easy meme that could stick?
> > > 
> > > Having spent some (admittedly disagreeable) time in marketing, I would 
> > > encourage thinking less about clever/punny names and instead names that 
> > > "say what it is."
> > > 
> > > I have found Don Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things" to be useful
> > > in this regard.
> > > 
> > > The name should answer the question "What is it?" in a way that
> > > non-technical end users immediately understand...and in a way that they
> > > can easily communicate to others.
> > > 
> > > I do not like to give criticism without offering an alternative, but I
> > > fear nothing comes to mind right now.
> > 
> > Smart, considerate criticism is always welcome!
> > 
> > Is "Open, Onion Routed and Off-the-Record" not saying what it is in
> > mostly plain english? I am happy with that longer version of the
> > description of "What is it?" or "Why do we recommend it?".
> 
> One of the rules of thumb in advertising is to tout "benefits, not
> features."
> 
> For instance, many people who could benefit from using Tor don't need 
> to know how onion routing works under the hood (or even the phrase
> "onion routing".)
> 
> Similarly, talking up "Open" as a feature may not resonate with a
> non-technical audience that likely knows little about open source
> software.
> 
> Growing technical awareness will change your comms strategy as time
> passes, but I think the urgency of the message requires greater
> simplification for non-technical end users.
> 
> Does that help?

Yes, good points. You are correct that using these kinds of terms only
appeals to people who understand the larger importance of them, as
opposed to how they directly impact them.

"Choice" is a better word then "Open", in that regard, and "No Trace" is
better than "Onion Routed". Thus, a phrase like "Your choose the
service, all conversations are completely private, and there is no trace
left behind", is much more plain spoken. 

I have also discovered "Zero Knowledge" again as an idea, and this
effort: http://zeroknowledgeprivacy.org/

"‘Zero-Knowledge’ privacy means the server is never capable of viewing
plaintext data; therefore, the data may never be compromised through
mismanagement, prying eyes, or external bodies looking to gain access."

Perhaps calling all of these things "Zero Knowledge Messengers" is an
easier starting point, and then explaining all the ways they achieve
that could be more useful.


I do think that Tor overall wants to raise awareness about what a "Dot
Onion" site is, means and does. "This chat service provides a dot onion
site" should hopefully mean something in the way that milk is labelled
"this milk contains no bovine growth hormone", or that a car contains
"anti-lock brakes" is something people generally get, now.

-- 
  Nathan of Guardian
  nathan at guardianproject.info