[tor-teachers] tor teachers -- politics

[Hugo Maxwell Connery]

Hi,

I support the numerous points that Jacob has made, and 
reiterate the call for the original poster to expand on what
she or he meant by excluding politics from the list such that
we can better understand the motivations which may be well 
considered and thoughtful.

I posit that most people who use tor eventually understand that 
there is a political aspect to their use of tor.

One may start using tor because it provides technical capabilities
which one requires (censorship circumvention, anonymity etc.).
I suggest that these persons will likely either directly understand
the political implications of their use of tor, or become aware of this
soon enough.

There are other persons, myself included, who use tor *specifically*
as a political statement.  I wish to support others in their right to read
anonymously by joining the "anonymity set", and I wish to support 
those who *need* anonymity due to oppressive political environments.  
I suffer none of these oppressions, but by my actions express my solidarity 
with those who do.  (And I believe that the watchers do not have a right
to know what I read -- another political statement).

I believe that it is important to understand the political background 
so that, with this knowledge, one can tailor a presentation to the 
audience.  Roger Dingledine made a great presentation (29C3 ?)
in which he clearly describes the differing approach that he takes
when talking about tor depending on the audience: students,
activists, law enforcement, censors etc.

> I feel that if we don't understand the principles behind Tor,
> we may have trouble teaching and evaluating related systems. The
> principles behind Tor which are very political in most contexts
> are why we're never going to see a backdoor inserted. Backdoor
> free crypto is a very serious political stance in my view.

I agree, it is a serious political stance, and am rather upset that it is
at the present time.

> I'd still like to know what the original poster meant by
> political in the context of this mailing list. It seems that
> we should be open and willing to hear this definition and to
> use it as a starting point.  there may be a set of people who
> consider themselves "non-political" when teaching Tor and I'd
> like to ensure that we don't exclude them.  First though, I'd
> really like to hear what that means from someone who feels this
> describes their views or desires for this list.
>
> All the best,
> Jacob

Regards,  Hugo