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Countries That Use Tor Most Are Either Highly Repressive or Highly Liberal

Joseph Cox, reporting for Motherboard: You might assume that people in the most oppressive regimes wouldn't use the Tor anonymity network because of severe restrictions on technology or communication. On the other hand, you might think that people in the most liberal settings would have no immediate need for Tor. A new paper shows that Tor usage is, in fact, highest at both these tips of the political spectrum, peaking in the most oppressed and the most-free countries around the world. "There is evidence to suggest that at extreme levels of repression, Tor does provide a useful tool to people in those circumstances to do things that they otherwise would not be able to do," Eric Jardine, research fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), a Canadian think-tank, told Motherboard in a phone call.

4 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Should be 'and' not 'or' by MightyMartian · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It always amuses me that people think they can win arguments by freely redefining words.

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  2. Re:Should be 'and' not 'or' by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Liberalism is all about centralizing power in a large government structure and keeping a very short leash on all citizens, convservatism on the other hand is about keeping power decentralized and in the hands of the individual and ensuring that nobody can ever be a slave to an authoritarian central regime.

    Do you actually know the definition of those words except as they pertain to US politics and how you think they work?

    In many places, "conservatism" is the authoritarian central regime. ISIS and the Taliban are "conservative".

    And if you think American conservatives around about centralized power, look at it from the perspective of not being a Christian. "Conservative" in the US means "entrenching Christianity as being the highest authority with the ability to control the lives of others according to that".

    Sorry, but you are so clueless it isn't funny. And the fact that you think "conservatism" in the US means any of that shit says you have no real understanding of it, just the fiction "conservatives" in the US like to tell themselves.

    The people who want to overturn the right of women to have abortions, or entrench the right of religious people to be assholes ... they only are interested in protecting the rights of a specific group of people, but they actually wish to control the rights of others.

    Most highly liberal governments are also highly oppressive? You haven't got a fucking clue what that word means.

    The US Constitution is the most liberal document you can imagine.

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  3. Re:Huh?? by mysidia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    People who live in oppressive regimes need anonymity.

    Yes, and the "regime" includes not only the government, but people and the condition of society as well. For example: by being found to having an unpopular view, then people around you such as family might shun you.

    In the US, the Democrats and those that support them are oppressive of individual rights. Many people have had their lives turned upside down, or their careers ruined after frivolously being called a racist, or being falsely accused of a crime that became media-popularized.

  4. Re:And This is Significant by GLMDesigns · · Score: 3, Informative

    Progressives have already hijacked the word liberal. Liberalism is antithetical to socialism and communism and any other collectivist sect.

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