[LINK] OzIT: 'Call to join Tor network to fight censorship'

[Adrian Chadd]

.. if only the broadband quotas in Australia weren't so restrictive,
running Tor nodes wouldn't be such a scary (financial, technical
prospect.

:)


Adrian

On Tue, May 25, 2010, Roger Clarke wrote:
> Call to join Tor network to fight censorship
> Karen Dearne
> The Australian
> May 25, 2010 12:00AM
> http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/call-to-join-tor-network-to-fight-censorship/story-e6frgakx-1225870756466
> 
> LOCAL internet users are being urged to embrace the online anonymity 
> tool, Tor, to help build the network in defence of free speech and 
> provide a "safety in the crowd" communications channel for people 
> living under repressive regimes.
> 
> The Tor Project's founder, Roger Dingledine, says Australians are 
> under-represented among the volunteers who provide the multiple relay 
> hops that ensure privacy and security.
> 
> But with Australia among the nations trying to censor citizens, there 
> was growing local interest in participation. "The Tor network is made 
> up of volunteers, like you and me, who start out running Tor as a 
> user, and then they say, 'I could be improving freedom of speech here 
> and elsewhere by pressing this button that turns me into a relay'," 
> Mr Dingledine told AusCERT 2010.
> 
> "That helps the relay traffic for other people around the world, and 
> makes the Tor network bigger. And because there are more locations, a 
> bunch of relays in many different places, it makes it safer also," he 
> said. A non-profit organisation credited with keeping internet 
> communications open for users in China and Iran during recent 
> crackdowns, the Tor Project started out as an R&D initiative for the 
> US Navy in 2001.
> 
> Tor's free open-source software and open network is used by hundreds 
> of thousands of people -- soldiers, police, journalists, bloggers, 
> human-rights workers, citizens living under censorship and just 
> ordinary people who object to online tracking by large corporations.
> 
> "A lot of the security comes from the diversity of users," Mr 
> Dingledine said. "Some people don't want businesses to collect 
> information about them, or they want to protect themselves against 
> identity theft.
> 
> "Businesses use Tor to keep commercial secrets safe, the military 
> uses it for intelligence gathering and communicating with field 
> agents, journalists and bloggers use it to report from danger zones, 
> while activists and whistleblowers use it to avoid persecution."
> 
> The belief that censorship or repression "won't happen to me" was 
> part of the challenge for securing democracy worldwide.
> 
> 
> Karen Dearne attended AusCERT 2010 as a guest of AusCERT.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
> 			            
> Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
>                     Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
> mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/
> 
> Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
> Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
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