Activists Call For General Strike On the Tor Network (vice.com) 127
Reader derekmead writes: Some Tor users are very unhappy with the way the project has been run in recent months, and are calling for a blackout on September 1st. They are asking users to not use Tor, for developers to stop working on Tor, and for those who run parts of the network's infrastructure to shut it down. The disgruntled users feel that Tor can no longer be fully trusted after a brief hiring of an ex-CIA official and the internal sexual misconduct investigation against activist Jacob Appelbaum.
Re: (Score:2)
Why a general?
Can't a major or a lieutenant colonel handle this?
That comment was in General Disarray and quite a Major Pain to follow. Corporal Punishment too follow shortly from Captain Obvious.
Re:Confused (Score:5, Informative)
SJWs just heard a buzzword and started a twitter campaign
Re: (Score:1)
SJW is the one of the biggest buzzwords of them all.
Re: (Score:2)
I think there has always been a few overly sensitive SJWs
Re: (Score:1)
Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. The Democrats are the Party of Slavery.
Re: Confused (Score:4, Insightful)
That reads like a gross oversimplification. For what it's worth, SJWs were responsible for the Magna Carta, various freedom leaning constitutions, women's suffrage, and the end of wide scale slavery, among many other things.
Fair enough. All of that was working for freedom, more power to them.
But at least some of modern SJWism is devoted to censorship. Rather than work for freedom, they seek to twist government power to oppress and carve out space for their favored factions.
It is terrifying a whole generation is being raised to think offending people is damaging, and therefore government may censor. It may take another 40 years before this gets approved by a more sympathetic supreme court. But there goes freedom as protecting the people, used as justification for censorship in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, will be enshrined as a valued principle in the United States.
Re: (Score:1)
End of slavery? Only in the west II believe: niggers are still holding other niggers as slaves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: Confused (Score:4, Insightful)
We live in the age of buzzwords and catchphrases which can be quickly used to categorize people without actually having to give thought to what they're saying. Words like "neocon", "fascist", "SJW", and "neo-liberal" all have very little meaning, but assist the simple mind, though sadly it is often to assist them in creating a faulty model of the world around them.
Re: (Score:2)
"neo-liberal" has a legitimate academic definition, and most times I have seen it used it has been in that context. The equivalent over-simplified buzzword used in its place is I believe "libertard".
Re: (Score:3)
Words like "neocon", "fascist", "SJW", and "neo-liberal" all have very little meaning, ...
I'm pretty sure the people of 1939-1945 Italy and Germany understood a pretty serious meaning of the word "fascist".
Re: (Score:2)
That's because they actually lived under Fascist governments. But the term has lost all meaning in the intervening period of time. Basically, any real or perceived government overreach is immediately declared the signs of fascism and a police state.
Re: (Score:2)
Because Franco was just such a really great guy...
White Terror [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Words like "neocon", "fascist", "SJW", and "neo-liberal" all have very little meaning
Well, they have a meaning but it's often too broad to be used correctly in a general context.
"Neocon" has a fairly specific meaning but "fascist", "SJW", and "neo-liberal" often mean very different things to different people.
Re: Confused (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Company has misbehaving employee. Misbehaving employee was fired.
What am I missing here?
Re: (Score:1)
Some people are convinced that all sexual assault/rape allegations are false, unless there is a video and a signed confession.
Re: (Score:2)
This was a workplace matter, not a criminal matter. You don't need proof beyond a reasonable doubt to fire someone, you also don't need proof beyond a reasonable doubt to win a lawsuit.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I didn't read the whole background story, but I just saw "sexual misconduct". But even with rape, people can and have been fired for it without it being proven in court. You can be fired for anything. Just a suspicion of a crime without an arrest is enough to make some companies fire someone.
After this, I read some more. He was not just dismissed or fired, he stepped down. He was not just asked to step down immediately, Tor had a seven week investigation, which feels like far more than most corporation
Re:Confused (Score:5, Insightful)
Some people are convinced that all sexual assault/rape allegations are false, unless there is a video and a signed confession.
Yes, and some people are convinced that all sexual assault/rape allegations are true, unless there is unassailable evidence to the contrary.
See the "rape victims have the right to be believed" idea for this whole debacle. For example, the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, the Rolling Stone rape article ("A Rape on Campus"), the Scottsboro Boys, the Tawana Brawley rape allegations, etc. All of these sensational cases turned out to be 100% bullshit. Those "victims" turned out to be perpetrators, but their stories were believed without any critical examination.
NO ONE has the "right to be believed" about anything without some actual evidence supporting their claim.
Yes, rape happens, there are plenty of examples of it that are absolutely genuine. BUT, there are false rape reports too, and taking the stance that "rape victims have the right to be believed" is setting the scene for a travesty of justice.
Re: (Score:1)
"Right to be believed" means when you go to police to report a rape they actually investigate instead of dismissing the claim out of hand. It has never meant a immediate assumption of guilt as you seem to imply.
Re: (Score:1)
A large portion of them will still demand that the accused be punished as if they were guilty.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
So Tor project did nothing wrong. Well, they did publish alleged misconduct of an employee all over the internet and the media. Perfectly normal amiright?
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Shari Steele fired and replaced Tor's entire board of directors. [archive.is] ioerror's accusers tried to get him fired from an academic program outside of Tor and they are trying to expel Daniel J. Bernstein (yes, that djb) from the security community. They have been going on a witch hunt against everybody who suggests they might be handling this too aggressively. Anyone who dissents is kicked out of Tor.
I'm looking forward to seei
Re: (Score:3)
Indeed, according to their graphic they want anyone who "supported or aided the investigation" to sever all ties with Tor.
It's the "rally around the founder no matter what" effect; I've seen it in many, many projects. That said, most people forget about it with time. Who here ever spares a second thought for Martin Eberhard these days when they think of Tesla, rather than Elon Musk? Back in the day, in the Tesla community Musk was the devil for firing Eberhard when it turned out that Eberhard had grossly
Re: (Score:2)
The community in the case of Tesla (which was just an example picked from countless) was the customers. Are you saying that customers are irrelevant for a company? You also seem to be of the view that the "rally around the founder" effect is a good thing, given your comment about the TOR project being replaced.
I don't even know what OpenOffice thing you're talking about, by the way.
Re: (Score:2)
I understand the possible conflict of interest in working with ex-CIA, although the fact that they'd admit working for the CIA seems dangerous and sketchy, but I don't understand the Applebaum thing. Are folks against sexual harassment/misconduct, or are they against investigating harassment/misconduct?
Perfectly reasonable question since the summary really doesn't make it clear. Unfortunately you seem to have trigger someone and got modded -1 troll. Welcome to the internet.
Re: (Score:1)
Dupe (Score:5, Informative)
This same soap opera was just posted 11 hours ago. Is it really necessary to repost?
Re: (Score:3)
Yes, this is at Vice. Everything's better if reported by Vice. You don't know that everything's been reported to death before you read about it in Vice.
Re:Dupe (Score:5, Funny)
There's a long-running strike on checking for dupes.
Again? (Score:3)
https://politics.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]
For some reason these dupes do make me feel at home here. The world is changing rapidly, but Slashdot stays just the way it is, with 15-year old layout and editors that cant even read their own front page.
Re: (Score:3)
Please don't mention the age of the layout, it might give them ideas...
Re: (Score:1)
with 15-year old layout
That is a good thing. The layout on my browser is more than 15-years old, and I like it that way. Some of us like stability.
As for Tor, screw them. It is not secure. If they want to shut it down, it will only serve as confirmation of its weaknesses. What we need is a system that can't be shut down.
Re: (Score:3)
Now the posters honor tradition by with the traditional bitching and moaning pointing out the story's a dupe.
The circle of life continues.
Re: (Score:2)
Duplicate post .. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Duplicate post about the duplicate post ...
Re: (Score:2)
Dupe (Score:1)
I think you ran this last night, anyhow there are serious questions about the allegations given that one of the anonymous "victims" came forward, said the people involved had not even talked to her and had invented their own story that did not match what happened.
But all this will get lost as people fight by making accusations about one another because nobody actually cares what happened, they're just here to tell others what horrible people they are to make themselves feel better. Okay, I'm done, your tur
Link to First Story with all Comments (Score:1)
Just click and go to the first instance of this identical story...
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/16/08/22/0319205/group-wants-to-shut-down-tor-for-a-day-on-september-1
Re: (Score:2)
And both are on the first page, new record in duplicate posts on Slashdot.
Slashdot employment (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Slashdot employment (Score:5, Funny)
Well, you just failed the interview. Two entire sentences without grammatical or spelling errors?
No way, dude.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Slashdot employment (Score:5, Funny)
Shit. I had so many great ideas to improve the site, like a Google Translate module that automatically converts TFS into a car analogy.
Cease and desist. I've already written that module. As proof, I just ran your last comment through it, and here's the result:
Fix engine light. I had so many great camshafts to improve the wheelbase, like an OnStar transmission that stickshiftally coverts the Owner's Manual into a [ERR: Stack overflow].
See?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
There are at least two grammatical errors in the 27 words that LichtSpektren posted.
You are both wrong.
Re: (Score:2)
I disagree with your signature. I'm going to vote for Cthulhu this year because I insist on voting for the lesser evil.
(Okay, so its off topic. At least I posted to the duped story.)
Same as always (Score:2, Funny)
I'll be using Tor the same amount as always on that ludicrous MRA Protest Day. I might even use it a little more, just because.
Maybe l'll use Tor to come to Slashdot and read the next dupe...
Shutdown Tor? (Score:3)
The argument against this "strike" is that it would shutdown TOR for a day, and would force journalists and dissidents to use a different (more risky) communication method instead.
Do the strikers in the TOR group actually have the power to turn off TOR itself, or are they just threatening to shut down their personal nodes?
If they really do have the power to completely turn off TOR worldwide, what is to stop that power being co-opted (or hacked) by a government?
TOR may be the only real Internet left to us (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
freedom-loving privacy nuts
Enjoy having governments, Facebook, advertisers, and organized crime so far up your ass that they're tickling your tonsils, you self-righteous piece of shit. Nobody should take your advice, ever.
Re: (Score:2)
I find it bizarre that anyone thinks that TOR was ever secure and private. Great in theory, and we need something to keep the spooks off our packets, but TOR has always been suspect.
Re: (Score:2)
This is slashdot after all... (Score:1)
and I wouldn't expect anything to change, duplicate stories are part of our DNA. The question becomes, why delete the old story?
Mission accomplished (Score:2, Insightful)
Fear, uncertainty and doubt sown.
Principals divided.
While focus and energy is diverted to the search for "truth", the real truth is that fewer people will trust their secrets to Tor as a result.
Mission accomplished.
Gee whiz... (Score:3)
It doesn't sound like they're getting played by the intelligence agencies AT ALL.