Hi
I saw that Tails.net advertised domestic violence victims as possible use case. This caught my interest because I think it’s a really noble cause, and the thought of someone not being able to access the internet freely is disgusting and triggers a reflex trying to find out how we could bring free internet to those people.
But I have some questions regarding this. I have to admit I don’t have a clear image of the situation of someone living in a household with domestic abuse. However, I can imagine that the person’s devices and network traffic would be monitored by the abuser.
Examples of how Tails did already help?
I guess in theory Tails would be an ideal tool to help people in this situation due to network traffic being encrypted and evidence of usage being erased after the flash drive is unplugged. But are there examples or stories of people successfully utilizing Tails in this situation? Because:
- Using and installing Tails is pretty technical. How can Tails be used by people in this situation who maybe are not technical?
- Downloading Tails takes a lot of time and requires you to browse to Tails.net, resulting in it being visible in the browser history which the abuser might inspect. How do we consider this?
Collaborations with other non-profits?
- Tor Project already has collaborations with e.g Repro Uncensored – Are there also collaborations with non-profits supporting victims of domestic abuse?
- Are there onion services acting as hotline for domestic abuse?
- If the answer to the two previous questions is “no”, wouldn’t it be a good idea to reach out to non-profits for this topic helping them in setting up secure hotlines using Tor/onion services?
Distributing Tails in public spaces?
Wouldn’t it be cool if we collaborated with non-profits, and these non-profits would distribute flash drives with Tails pre-installed in public spaces like schools, work spaces,… So a person could request a flash drive with Tails pre-installed so he or she doesn’t have to do the downloading at home?
Is Tails the correct tool? / Distributing obfuscated apps?
I am wondering if Tails actually is a helpful tool for people in this specific situation… I think the technical knowledge required creates a too big impediment for most people.
Wouldn’t it be possible to distribute an app (in collaboration with another non-profit) on the Apple App Store and Google Play store which looks normal on the surface, but contains hidden features triggered by some kind of input pattern which would open a screen with a chat or contact form allowing the user to contact hotlines over Tor?
Roadmap / plans for future?
In 2012 there was an initiative “Hacking against domestic violence”. But have there also been recent initiative, or future initiatives in the pipeline, to support people in this situation?
My belief is that we really really really should not accept a world in which even one person has no access to free internet (no matter if the censorship is done by a state actor or an individual abuser). And I’m just wondering if we are still taking the people suffering domestic abuse in consideration, and if there are ideas on how to help this cause even more.