beneficia versus maleficia

Wesley Kenzie wkenzie at gmail.com
Sun Oct 3 14:43:21 UTC 2010


On Sat, Oct 2, 2010 at 5:14 PM, Andrew Lewman <andrew at torproject.org> wrote:

> On Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:58:15 -0500
> David Bennett <dbennett455 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> * > I am facing a moral dilemma in regards to joining the tor proxy
> > network.  I am hoping a discussion may alleviate some of my concerns.
>
> It seems what you are wrestling with is the dual use nature of
> any technology.
>
> <snip>
>
> It comes down to if you believe the good uses outweigh the bad uses.
> Technologies are generally introduced with a narrow use case in mind.
> Seldom to these technologies stick to their original use case over time*.
>
>
This is well articulated, Andrew, and a good summary of this important
aspect of the issue. But I think what it primarily comes down to is
something you did not mention: how a person is prepared to face
possible<->likely unpleasant consequences for choosing something they
believe to be morally right.

If these unpleasant consequences are too much or too difficult for the
person, then they should likely choose a more passive role, if anything. In
the Tor context, I believe that is what relays and bridges and limited exit
node ports are for. If the person is still unable - for either personal or
family or community safety concerns - to face this risk, then they
could/should choose to help in other ways by volunteering to help the Tor
Project in various ways. Or they could choose to opt out of any actions, and
just listen in on the conversations so they can learn more about how these
important issues of privacy, anonymity, security etc are evolving before us.

It takes courage and conviction, to both believe and to act according to
your beliefs. Making intelligent choices fits in there somewhere too. But in
the end we all define our own lives in our own ways.

--
Wesley Kenzie
gpg 0x4C945266
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