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Proposal: Tor - online anonymity, privacy, and security

Why not expand this proposal to other anonymizing networks - Freenet, I2P, and others?

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  • 3
    Why expand? Blender, Magento and Tridion are all single software stacks and seem to be doing fine.
    – asheeshr
    Jun 12, 2013 at 13:12
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    @AsheeshR: Then we try to start a broader site and it goes like "Embedded Programming and Design for all platforms, EXCEPT Raspberry Pi, because Raspberry got its own site."
    – SF.
    Jun 12, 2013 at 13:22
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    There are no issues when a fraction of the scope of one site overlaps another. Its been happening on many sites in the network (Software Engineering, Stack Overflow, Computer Science, Theoretical Computer Science). The only real issue is that the new proposal should be wide enough to cover more than just the scope of a previous proposal like RPi in your specific case.
    – asheeshr
    Jun 12, 2013 at 13:28
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    I would also really push for an "Internet Privacy" Q&A website because it really becomes an issue nowadays. Moreover, the questions that might be asked could also be about what kind of information leaks you might encounter with such of such software or device.
    – perror
    Jun 12, 2013 at 15:28
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    @perror Thats a much much wider topic than just Tor. You should start a separate proposal, if there isn't already an existing one. Also, doesn't Information Security cover that partially?
    – asheeshr
    Jun 12, 2013 at 16:34
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    There is an existing proposal for all things privacy: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/38311/privacy
    – Runa
    Jun 12, 2013 at 22:50
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    Do you believe that just Tor will be able to produce enough questions to keep this running in the long run?
    – Hjulle
    Jun 18, 2013 at 13:31
  • @Hjulle: Yes. Tor changes all the time, with new releases, features, research, etc. I don't think we would run out of questions.
    – Runa
    Jun 19, 2013 at 11:27

4 Answers 4

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I'm concerned that including other anonymizing networks, such as Freenet and I2P, will make the site too broad. As it is, the site would include Tor and any solution which use Tor in some way, such as Orbot, Orweb, and Tails.

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  • Would this also cover setting up services in configurations such as the one used by Tormail? Having a scope of what would be supported or redirected would be something to have as a disclaimer, if at all possible.
    – Søvnige Hode
    Jun 13, 2013 at 16:06
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    We would cover setting up a service as a Tor hidden service, yes. That said, the Tor support team would only be able to answer questions which are related to the Tor Project and official projects/services. This would exclude services such as Tormail and TorChat.
    – Runa
    Jun 14, 2013 at 12:17
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    Yes. I'm a member of the core Tor team: torproject.org/about/corepeople.html.en
    – Runa
    Jun 14, 2013 at 18:54
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    Someone on the tor-talk mailing list asked if non-official projects would be welcome on this page. I like Nick's answer: lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2013-June/028594.html
    – Runa
    Jun 19, 2013 at 11:25
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    @Runa Those discussions should ideally happen here on Area 51 so that everybody knows about it and not just the Tor mailing list.
    – asheeshr
    Jun 19, 2013 at 14:34
  • Anonymity and Privacy might be too broad a topic. Stackoverflow is good because it is focused on specific technologies or topics.
    – chovy
    Jul 2, 2013 at 17:20
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    @chovy I would argue that SO is not focused on specific technologies or topics. You can ask about any language from Pascal to Python. You can ask about everything from embedded programming to web-app development.
    – Jesse Webb
    Aug 16, 2013 at 16:31
  • I guess I'm thinking of tags...I don't know why I said that. Totally agree with you, it should be "Anonymity/Privacy". There's so many new things coming out now, Bitcoin, Bitmessage, Tor, I2P, Meshnet.
    – chovy
    Aug 16, 2013 at 19:11
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Besides Runa'S answer I'm sure that a site about anonymity networks will attract mostly Tor questions. At some point people who are interested in other solutions will leave the place and in the long term questions which are not about Tor remain unanswered. From my point of view it might be a good idea to have a Tor specific site (like proposed) and a site which covers other anonymity networks. It is a bit like AskUbuntu and Unix & Linux SE.

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  • That analogy isn't correct. A question about linux can be on-topic on both Linux.SE and AU, while a question dealing only with Ubuntu, is not on-topic on Linux.SE . Although, I support the general idea.
    – asheeshr
    Jul 8, 2013 at 13:34
  • Well according to the help questions on Linux are only allowed at AU if they directly relate to Ubuntu. So for instance questions about Linux Mint are closed as OT even if Mint derives from Ubuntu (as far as it is not LMDE). Thatswhy I considered my analogy correct. ;-)
    – Jens Kubieziel
    Jul 8, 2013 at 14:55
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For the separate overlay networks (darknet) such as I2P, Freenet and so on, there is now separate site Deep Web, this went private beta few days ago.

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My interest in this StackExchange site is solely for the agenda of promoting the proper use of Tor around the world, ideally for the preservation of privacy. I don't really want to participate in a StackExchange that takes a shotgun approach to Internet privacy, occasionally discussing Tor but also a great number of other technologies. It all comes down to signal:noise ratio. I very much like the narrow focus on one privacy tool that, when you really dig into it, offers a very rich substrate for broad and deep discussion,

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    A Stack Exchange site is meant to help people solve problems - real, practical problems they have. It is not for promoting anything. StackExchange is also not for discussing anything and I believe Tor should be a part of the solution (answers) and not a part of the problem (questions)...
    – SF.
    Aug 19, 2013 at 19:26

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