Tor Hires Former EFF Chief As Executive Director (cio.com)

itwbennett writes: Shari Steele, a 20-year veteran of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), has been hired as executive director of the Tor Project, the widely used anonymity tool that frequently comes up in debates over encryption and privacy. Steele, who started at EFF as a staff attorney, then legal director and eventually executive director, comes on board at a time when Tor has been embroiled in controversy. In November, the organization accused the FBI of paying Carnegie Mellon University $1 million for information on security issues that later facilitated arrests related to online drug markets.

Comments

..and an unknown number of journalists and..

[Anonymous Coward]

..whistleblowers suicided...

Year-End Giving

[bill_mcgonigle]

The Tor Project is a tax-deductable 501(c)(3) for US taxpayers. They have several ways to donate.

Re:Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

I think if this is going to be marked informative, it should at least in the interest of completeness also be mentioned that the Tor Project has always been, and still is to a certain extend funded by the US government.

Re:Year-End Giving

[whh3]

And that makes them "rich"?

The people who work on Tor, IMO, deserve our support. Perhaps if enough people supported them with donations they wouldn't have to turn to the government for funding to cover their basic operations.

Re: Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

Donating money to any organization tied to the EFF may have life-altering consequences. Think twice.

Re: Year-End Giving

[KGIII]

Hopefully it does. That's why I donate. I'd say not to worry and that I donated enough for you too but, well, they can always use more. Don't confuse the EFF with FSF or the GNU Project. They're not the same nor are they, shall we say, as zealous. The former gets my money, the latter two do not. I see the EFF to be much the same as I see the ACLU.

Re: Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

Donating to the ACLU does not end you on a watchlist... Or maybe it does now. Doesn't matter. I'm not endangering my family and neither should you.

Re: Year-End Giving

[KGIII]

Well, it's rather unlikely that my donating to any of those companies will put your family on a watch list so your family should be safe.

Actually, wait... No, it might. Sometimes I make anonymous donations and you're Anonymous Coward. Err... Please tell Mrs. Coward, Junior Coward, and Sister Coward to be careful and that I'm sorry but some things must be done in the name of freedom. Freedoms do entail risks, after all. If you don't want risks then you don't want freedom. That's okay for you to choose.

My family, in as much as I know, are quite pleased (proud even) of my behavior and tend to act in similar ways. None of us appear to be on any watch lists. If we are, then we're still allowed to travel. I own a couple of classed firearms and a rather large collection of others. I have a permit to conceal carry. I am, technically, in Washington D.C. right this minute. I have a variety of assets on the internet at large. Worse, I'll be running for State Senate in Maine in 2016.

So, either they've rightfully concluded that I'm entirely harmless or they're still watching me. They should probably spend fewer dollars watching me and just meander over for a cup of coffee and breakfast. They're far more likely to get information from me that way then they are by looking for a bunch of disparate sources.

Remember, I'm all about freedom which includes the freedom to tell them anything they're really curious about, if they just ask me nicely. I maintain the right to not give them any information, of course, but a nice little chat would be kind of amusing for a while. It would also save them some tax dollars and time. It's not like I've anything to hide. I just support YOUR right to hide it if you want to. In fact, I support it quite strongly - up to and including this seemingly risky act of donating to worthy charitable causes.

So don't worry Anonymous Coward... I'll remember you and the next time I donate, I'll donate a little extra on your behalf. I won't even put your name in the comments unless you want me to add, "A little bit added on behalf of Anonymous Coward who was scared that doing so would get him on a government watch list." 'Cause I'll do that, you know. It'll probably be just before or just after tax time (depends on what my accountant tells me I've spent) and I can remember to add it. I can even make a note.

Re: Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

why would you need to think twice to alter your life in such positive ways?

Re: Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

You're definitely on a watch list for taking yourself so seriously as to write such a long post.

Re: Year-End Giving

[DriveDog]

If you're not on a watch list, you're not doing anything worthwhile.

Re: Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you not seen my posts? I'll post a 10,000 word narrative on an inane topic like what I had for dinner. I have the time... Worse, I have the motivation. I get bored easily and will wax rhapsodic about most anything. It's what I do. I'll do it *anywhere.* I'm a bit partial to doing it here because, well, it frustrates a few people who can't be stuffed to comprehend anything more complex than a pithy saying on a bumper sticker. The rest read it and chuckle or just skip it and go about their day. Some even respond. Sometimes, I try not to do it too often, there's even something of value in my posts. It happens, but not as a general rule.

Re: Year-End Giving

[whh3]

Good point -- I was talking about the fact that they take money from the government does not make them "rich". That was the point I was trying to counter from the original author's post.

Re: Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

That's actually one of the reasons I donate.

I run a tor node (non exit, I'm not quite up to having a SWAT team in my living room over some bullshit, maybe some day) and a Freenet node as well, have for over a decade now.

I fly a few times a year, sometimes internationally. Maybe it's because I'm white, but I don't have any issues. Whatever lists I might be on are not the cause trouble for me kind, so in summary, stop being a pussy and donate to the EFF if you want.

Re: Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody is going to murder your family because you threw a few bucks to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, just knock that shit off and stop trying to spread FUD about a good organization already.

Re: Year-End Giving

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be new here.

made for tv

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it me or could Weird Al play Shari Steele in a made for tv movie?

Transgender?

[Anonymous Coward]

So is she transgender? Sure looks like it.

Re:Transgender?

[Anonymous Coward]

Does it matter? Stop with your microaggressions! You are creating a toxic environment! I want my Mommy! No, my OTHER Mommy.

Re:Transgender?

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty sure it's just one silly picture with manly shadows. This is her husband: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Re:Transgender?

[Anonymous Coward]

So what. I've met EFF staff who are transgender. So what? There's enough news for nerds stuff that matters in the article without this speculiar speculation.

Re:Transgender?

[KGIII]

She does kind of look like a young Kieth Richards in that picture.

Re:Transgender?

[Anonymous Coward]

She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Lola
El-oh-el-aye Lola la-la-la-la Lola

Re:Transgender?

[DriveDog]

Richards??? I'm thinking more like Weird Al.

Don't mean that in a bad way, and she did a pretty darn good job at EFF.

Comments/Critisism on String molestation

[Anonymous Coward]

...
   int cnt = ::WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, buffer, len, nullptr, 0, nullptr, nullptr);
   if (cnt == 0) return "";
   std::string newbuffer;
   newbuffer.resize(cnt);
   ::WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, buffer, len, const_cast< char* >(newbuffer.c_str()), cnt, nullptr, nullptr);
...

May I molest a string like that?  No then why not?

Torr Hires?

[Anonymous Coward]

Aught to call the bum Executive DisrupTOR.

Ha ha

Legal Quarterback Heads Off field Team?

[retroworks]

Love EFF, love what TOR wants to be. If TOR is expecting a legal challenge down the road, this makes sense. Otherwise TOR's barrier to acceptance is that it's slow, and lawyers don't speed things up.

What is it with the idiotic comments?

[gweihir]

All paid government shills with the intelligence of a peanut?

To Shari Steele

[pruedz]

Off topic: Prof. Oak: You are a boy or a girl? On Topic: People whining about Tor only being used to illegal activities in 3... 2... 1.... Yes! Tor is mostly used to illegal activities, like buy drugs and CP. But is ALSO used to other "illegal activities" like access Facebook, news sites or advocate free speech. "Illegal activities" is dependent where you are, in most of the world watch CP is illegal while some places, just watch is not, this makes watch CP ok if you are there? No. Meanwhile, in some places access Facebook, or write a blog article about your government imprisoning reporters is illegal. This makes Tor a bag thing? No. Tor as any other tool can be used to do Good or Evil. Guns, knifes or even cars can be used to Good or Evil. Cars are used in kidnaps and murder every day. Should we ban cars?

Re:To Shari Steele

[Anonymous Coward]

People use the clear internet for all of that same stuff, so the anti-tor argument is fucking stupid anyway.

You've already made the car analogy that I was going to make, so I won't point out how retarded it would be to outlaw Chevys because I drove a car to the house of the lady that I was hired to kill by some online person. It's the same reasoning behind all of the bullshit gun control arguments that fall so flat.

Probably not, but who cares?

[bigsexyjoe]

There aren't really that many transgender people and she basically looks like a non-transgender woman. And if she is transgender, who cares?

Microaggressions

[bigsexyjoe]

I have a microagression for you: Fuck off MRA wanker. Go back to Roosh's site and whine there.

Beauty pageant time

[Anonymous Coward]

She's quite the, um...looker