[tor-talk] New Tool Keeps Censors in the Dark - mentions Tor.

[Jimmy Richardson]

On 8/9/2011 5:44 AM, Joe Btfsplk wrote:
> On 8/8/2011 8:16 AM, Jimmy Richardson wrote:
>>
>>
>> On 8/8/2011 5:03 PM, Eugen Leitl wrote:
>>> On Mon, Aug 08, 2011 at 10:41:50AM +0800, Jimmy Richardson wrote:
>>>
>>>> Google AppEngine provides a platform which can be used to run your own
>>>> proxy servers for free, Gtalk supports XMPP which can also be used to
>>>> circumvent censorship.
>>> Google actively cooperates with US authorities regardless of user's
>>> geography, so using Google's infrastructure for anonymity is an 
>>> oxymoron.
>>
>> I agree, but again, we were talking about anti-censorship, not 
>> anonymity. Frankly people in China or Iran has much more to fear from 
>> their own government than from US authorities.
>> _______________________________________________
>>
> Jimmy, though you have some valid points, I think you missed my point 
> entirely (possibly some other posters').
>

Actually I do see your point, as I have said, we have different 
assumptions regarding how censor would react to anti-censorship 
activities, let's just agree to disagree here. But even under your 
assumption, I don't see the reason to bash Google here. True, Google 
could sell you out to governments, but so could any company (for example 
your ISP). The difference between Google and your average company is: a. 
Google actually made a stand against censorship, and suffered the 
retaliation; b. Google is providing computation resources for free. If 
you want privacy/anonymity, you just need to code encryption routines 
for the proxy you run on Google's AppEngine, it's no different from the 
suggestion to run Tor over Telex. And for the free service they provided 
against censorship, we should be thanking Google (and Telex if it gets 
built). As far as I can see, Tor is already losing against the censors, 
I think Tor should welcome some help in fighting against them.