We've Launched a Search for Our Next Executive Director

@ anon, gk:

Thanks much to you both for clarifying!

Glad to know Mike P is still on the team!

Never mind, this has already been answered above.

Keep in mind that Tor was _never_ claimed to be robust against a global adversary. In practice, defending anonymity against rather more casual, opportunistic threats is just as important - quite possibly even more so! (Nsa not the only global adversary of note BTW, or even the most relevant. Realistically and prudently, Chinese intelligence must be assumed to have similar capabilities, or to be working on acquiring them.)

Thanks to Shari for her service and willingness to step into a challenging job at a difficult time for Tor Project!

I've strongly supported the goals she set when she came to TP (particularly expanding Tor's user base worldwide and building a user-supported funding model). But I also expressed concern when TP remained officially silent on such critical issues as

o whether TP stands by Roger D's vow never to introduce "backdoors" into Tor
o whether TP has a plan for how to react if the US Congress passes a law mandating such a backdoor for all US-based civilian cryptographic products (or one specifically targeting Tor)
o why TP has had such slow public response to crises such as Meltdown/Spectre

When Shari came to TP she did say her style would be to keep quiet, and she certainly did that. I hope the next ED will be willing and able to react faster to revelations such as Shellshock, Meltdown/Spectre which clearly demand an immediate crisis response from TP, including a public statement (with followups as the situation is clarified or the status of the emergency changes).

I am glad that TP has a year to find the next ED because this is a critical role at TP. I hope that TP will be able to find someone with

o impeccable human rights creds
o no connections to USIC or other USG agencies which could sow doubt among non-US Tor users
o no connections with the shadier agencies of any other government
o tele-executive experience (e.g. leading geographically dispersed workforce)
o proven track record in building good relations with media
o solid connections with other human rights and pro-cybersecurity/privacy organizations
o some prior knowledge of good cybersecurity practices and whistleblower protection
o ability to cope with a wide variety of potential future crises (employee/tech/political/legal)
o (ideally) ability to screen out job applicants presenting falsified resumes (e.g. an applicant for a job developing human rights sensitive software who says he worked for US State Department when in fact he was working for CIA), and willingness to state that a falsified resume is grounds for immediate firing

Being ED of TP is not just any executive job. It's not like being CEO of Staples. Any serious mistakes not only might but probably will cost lives from some of the most endangered human populations on Planet Earth.