commit 4a6b9deb39fe1011963066a78ee1512d20bad64f Author: Iain R. Learmonth <irl@fsfe.org> Date: Thu Mar 1 14:21:06 2018 +0000 Expand Philosophy text on about page (See: #23169) --- src/main/resources/web/jsps/about.jsp | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 37 insertions(+) diff --git a/src/main/resources/web/jsps/about.jsp b/src/main/resources/web/jsps/about.jsp index bc14b08..dbd1be9 100644 --- a/src/main/resources/web/jsps/about.jsp +++ b/src/main/resources/web/jsps/about.jsp @@ -24,6 +24,43 @@ through a rigorous review and discussion process before appearing here. We never publish statistics—or aggregate statistics—of sensitive data, such as unencrypted contents of traffic.</p> + <p>The goals of a privacy and anonymity network like Tor are not easily + combined with extensive data gathering, but at the same time data is needed for + monitoring, understanding, and improving the network. Data can be used to + detect possible censorship events or attacks against the network. Safety and + privacy concerns regarding data collection by Tor Metrics are guided by the <a + href="https://research.torproject.org/safetyboard.html#guidelines">Tor Research + Safety Board's guidelines</a>. Safety and privacy assessment is usually done + openly by discussion during the proposal process for changes to the Tor source, + and/or supported by closer analysis in form of <a + href="https://research.torproject.org/techreports.html">Tor Technical + Reports</a>.</p> + <p>For data we collect from the public Tor network, we will always follow + three main guidelines:</p> + <dl class="dl-horizontal"> + <dt>Data minimalism</dt> + <dd>The first and most important guideline is that only the minimum + amount of statistical data should be gathered to solve a given problem. + The level of detail of measured data should be as small as possible.</dd> + <dt>Source aggregation</dt> + <dd>Possibly sensitive data should exist for as short a time + as possible. Data should be aggregated at its source, including + categorizing single events and memorizing category counts only, summing + up event counts over large time frames, and being imprecise regarding + exact event counts.</dd> + <dt>Transparency</dt> + <dd>All algorithms to gather statistical data need to be discussed + publicly before deploying them. All measured statistical data should be + made publicly available as a safeguard to not gather data that is too + sensitive.</dd> + </dl> + <p>You can read more about safety considerations when collecting data in + the Tor network in "<a + href="https://www.freehaven.net/anonbib/#wecsr10measuring-tor">A Case + Study on Measuring Statistical Data in the Tor Anonymity Network</a>" by + Karsten Loesing, Steven J. Murdoch, and Roger Dingledine. <i>In the + Proceedings of the Workshop on Ethics in Computer Security Research + (WECSR 2010), Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, January 2010.</i></p> <h2>Ecosystem <a href="#ecosystem" name="ecosystem" class="anchor">#</a></h2> <p>Tor relays and bridges collect aggregated statistics about their usage