[tor-reports] DC Trip Report 24-26 January 2014

[andrew at torproject.is]

I traveled to Washington DC to meet and learn from Spitfire Strategies[0]
about Tor's brand, media presence, and ideas for the future. It was a
great day of learning, and hopefully the world will see the results over
the next few months. It's interesting to get critiques on all our past
media appearances; what was good and what could be better. Overall,
the team there are doing a great job. Thanks to the Ford Foundation for
funding this.

I met with an executive at Innovation Partners International[1] to get
some perspective on the challenges of growth, and help us make it happen
without going crazy. She had some interesting insights about growth and
keeping a coherent team as we're under the scrutiny of the world. Her
years in Africa have given her a very different perspective on growth
and teams.

I met with the CEO of Delight Me[2]. Talked about the product, how Tor
could use it internally, and to think about privacy implications of the
service. The company is still in pilot phase, but is already turning
out to be useful for a wide variety of companies and people.

Attended an event at the National Cathedral School[3].  Talked to the
Head of School and some of their Trustees about privacy and children,
technology and education, dating abuse, and had a fascinating conversation
with a former military satellite engineer about surveillance from above
and "networks of connectivity" between the ground and satellites.

And finally, had a great dinner with a friend who works on global
trademarks, top level domain rights issues, and works on the intersection
of human rights and the cutting edge of trademark/copyright/patents at
Venable[4]. We discussed the many risks and benefits to Tor's stance
on not getting patents for math by computers, and global trademarks in
the current climate.

All in all, a great trip over 2 days.


[0] http://www.spitfirestrategies.com/

[1] http://innovationpartners.com/

[2] http://delightme.com/

[3] http://ncs.cathedral.org

[4] http://www.venable.com/

-- 
Andrew
http://tpo.is/contact
pgp 0x6B4D6475