Proposal: Produce Tor Expert Packages and Tails.
I was introduced to Tor at TechCamp Zanzibar by Karen. I spent the past two days of travel engorging all that is Tor. I had a phone call with Andrew as well. I am unclear where in the world Andrew resides, but he was very professional about my call at what was likely very early in the morning on a week end. Here are my impressions as a successful entrepreneur looking at advanced technology which is equivalent to magic for most of the world.
I installed Tor Browser on my macbook and started to use it. I read through the documentation, once I found it. It appears to be using Tor Browser on your main system is fraught with peril. In fact, couple the NOScript usability issues with the scary warnings about downloading something and Tor Browser on your main system seems wholly illogical and unsafe to use. I removed Tor Browser.
You work with the Tails project. I propose using Tor on anything BUT at dedicated anonymity machine is unsafe. It should only be used inside Tails. The Tor Project should only produce the Tor expert bundles and the Tails operating system. Anything else is putting users at risk. The Tor Expert package is solely for those experts who understand how to use Tor, configure the bits, and understand their risks. This set of people encompasses users who think they know all of this too.
The Tails operating system is based on Debian linux. It should be said that this operating system is a tool. It is not a general purpose operating system for everyone. It works fantastically inside parallels on my macbook. I suggest shipping Tails as the default download.
This proposal allows Tor to continue to focus on its core products:
- Research and academic output.
- The core Tor software.
- The Tails Operating System.
- Education of the world on the previous three products.
These four products are all Tor should be building. Everything else is secondary to the project and a distraction.
I have reviewed the Tor Projects page and discovered you are distracted from your core goal. Andrew explained how many of these products are related to the core tor research. He is wrong and making excuses. And he knows it. The Tor Project has too few people according to your core people page, doing too many things. I strongly suggest you hire a true Product Manager to make these decisions. Sell all of these useless products to some other company and focus on the four products above.
Good day.