That’s completely correct, I didn’t think my statement through. I’m a strong supporter of free software as defined by the free software definition, and in that way some of my software might end up being used by the US military. But then, as the FSF and Richard Stallman argue, software licenses may not be the place to fight these battles. Otherwise I will not support or collaborate with the US military or intelligence services (and as I don’t contribute to the Linux kernel it’s unlikely that any of my work will be of real use to them).
Also, I’m not really a pacifist, more like an anti-imperialist. I want no part of the colonial wars the Western countries have been embroiled in for the last decades, and I’d like to see all Danish politicians who helped maneuver us into the war against Iraq in jail for the rest of their lives.
The thing is, the BBG, which for many years was Tor’s largest sponsor - actually, they hired the Tor project as a contractor, it wasn’t like sponsoring an NGO - is not into having agents which need to cover their tracks. Rather, as operators of Radio Free Asia etc., they’re into the enemy propaganda and regime change business. As such, its mission is a part of the American colonial project, and their investment in Tor should be seen in that light. Of course, people might still like the Dingledine theory - we’ll help the US government undermine foreign countries, and then we get a great privacy tool - but I don’t. I wouldn’t, to be precise, actively dissuade people from using it, but I will have no part in promoting it.
Finally:
The problem is that the Tor project reaches out to Latin American and Middle Eastern grass roots organizations as if they were themselves just a grass root organization run by activists when in fact they are contractors for the US intelligence services.
No grassroot organizations in Latin America can collaborate with American intelligence services and maintain their credibility. It’s a poison pill. If Tor employees reach out to such activists without explicitly revealing their ties to US intelligence services, including the BBG and the CIA, they’re compromising them and in fact putting them at risk.
