[tor-bugs] #23270 [Core Tor/Tor]: Allow Tor relays to be configured to block selected hidden services, including racist hate sites

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#23270: Allow Tor relays to be configured to block selected hidden services,
including racist hate sites
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  cypherpunks                          |          Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement                          |         Status:  closed
 Priority:  Medium                               |      Milestone:  Tor:
                                                 |  unspecified
Component:  Core Tor/Tor                         |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                               |     Resolution:  invalid
 Keywords:  racism, hate, anti-fascism,          |  Actual Points:
  probably-bad-idea, slippery-slope, but-its-    |
  the-good-kind-of-censorship,                   |
Parent ID:                                       |         Points:
 Reviewer:                                       |        Sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------

Comment (by cypherpunks):

 Replying to [comment:10 cypherpunks]:
 > > You just do not get Free Open Source Software, do you? Users own the
 right to edit the software as they please. Tor Project has no ability to
 control what sites people can host and access. Relay operators have no
 ability to either. This is permanently baked into the design.
 >
 > Free software has always been political. Yes, Nazis would just remove
 the code but then a racist has to keep hitting reload until they reach a
 nazi-run tor router that removed that code. It might not 100% stop them in
 their tracks but I support anything that makes life harder for them and
 puts resistance in their way.

 Doing that would be inefficient. If an onion address is censored, a new
 one can be created within minutes. And racists don't need an onion web
 site to communicate their ideas anyway. I never ever visited any racist
 onion site, but I still see racist comments everywhere in the newspapers,
 on TV, radio, and basically everywhere. Who cares about racist comments on
 an unknown onion site when the president of the United States openly
 shares his racist ideas on TV. Closing this particular racist onion site
 will not achieve anything.

 More than being inefficient it will make Tor useless. If we get in a
 position where someone is able to control what is published, then the next
 step is to ask them to censor this other bad topic that is really really
 bad, and them make them responsible for anything that they decided not to
 censor.

 >
 > Many other projects like EFF and guardian project have agreed with the
 tor post about this violent speech being unacceptable. What changes do you
 propose to limit it? or are you simply here to defend fascism?

 There are many things to do, but destroying Tor by integrating censorship
 features is certainly not one of them.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/23270#comment:14>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online