Hacker News: romanpoet

New comment by romanpoet in "Introduction to GrapheneOS"

romanpoet — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 22:46:53 +0000

I've seen several complaints here about how GOS does "user profiles", specifically complaining they make the UX too poor. There is a weaker form of user profiles called "work profiles" that one can use to have separation between apps but in a more user-friendly way.

The recommended app is "Shelter". https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.typeblog.shelter/

New comment by romanpoet in "BART's Anime Mascots"

romanpoet — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 22:15:42 +0000

This has precedence for the LA Metro in 2017.

https://observer.com/2017/10/la-metro-promotes-transit-etiqu...

New comment by romanpoet in "White Words"

romanpoet — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 02:32:33 +0000

Stopped reading after being informed that my thinking the word "Eskimo", which the author zerself used, is offensive.

New comment by romanpoet in "Strength in Numbers: An Entire Ecosystem Relies on Tor"

romanpoet — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 06:37:18 +0000

There's still a few nodes remaining in Asia.

https://tormap.void.gr/

As a point of comparison, look at the nodes for Ethereum, which, IMHO, is a even more disruptive idea than Tor.

https://team.carto.com/builder/e70677d5-1111-40a8-9e19-f27da...

Ethereum is a much younger project than Tor, and explicitly eschews the human-rights / internet-freedom branding, even though it will obviously be incredibly useful for those purposes.

New comment by romanpoet in "Strength in Numbers: An Entire Ecosystem Relies on Tor"

romanpoet — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 05:06:21 +0000

I left Tor Project after seven years for the same reason (the pivot from "internet privacy" to "human rights watch for nerds" where internet privacy is a means to an end). At Tor Project, the adults are no longer guiding the ship.

https://medium.com/@virgilgr/tors-branding-pivot-is-going-to...

New comment by romanpoet in "Ask HN: What are the smartest people you know working on?"

romanpoet — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 18:19:12 +0000

Ethereum

New comment by romanpoet in "Ex-Google recruiter: I was fired because I resisted “illegal” diversity efforts"

romanpoet — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 15:55:56 +0000

I'm here to report to you that unfortunately they are not that company. I hear they used to be everything the nerds dreamed, but as the company grew, the original culture was unable to defend itself.

New comment by romanpoet in "Google Employee's Anti-Diversity Manifesto Goes 'Internally Viral'"

romanpoet — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 08:35:20 +0000

Knowing nothing about the manifesto, the article's frequent use of weasel words makes me want to support to author of the manifesto.

New comment by romanpoet in "Dutch app gives elderly pedestrians extra crossing time at traffic lights"

romanpoet — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 20:02:17 +0000

This has been done in Singapore for years.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10108869359209909&se...

New comment by romanpoet in "Show HN: Rumuki, a prenup for sex tapes"

romanpoet — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 22:19:10 +0000

You know, this sounds absurd, but I like it.

New comment by romanpoet in "Undergrad researcher comes up with new equation in gaseous thermodynamics"

romanpoet — Sun, 25 Dec 2016 23:59:42 +0000

please someone teach this student LaTeX.

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 04:24:47 +0000

Okay, if Tor decides they'd pare back of the rest of the world to "focus at home", that would be a perfectly fine thing, logically consistent thing to do

However, this argument doesn't generate any virtue points. My sole claims about Tor are (1) they've pivoted and (2) their short-sightedness. They want to be rah-rah human-rights, but their angle of pursuit of human-rights is, ironically, notably counter-productive.

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 23:10:46 +0000

Good point. To answer you directly---in short they like whistleblowing.

More long-form they like some of the protection features---e.g., protection against corporate espionage from China/USA. They probably also like to use such technologies to spy on their neighbors in efforts to leverage that information to negotiate better trade deals.

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 21:44:58 +0000

relays:

* https://atlas.torproject.org/#details/46022AFBB0B1A771EE3CB3...

* https://atlas.torproject.org/#details/AD00FAC2AB97E310ECAB25...

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 21:40:36 +0000

> But hey, if you decide to use a proxy that screams "I'M A POLITICAL DISSIDENT" with every packet you send they might just get interested.

Hit the nail on the head my good sir.

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 20:40:00 +0000

Thank you 1ris! Yes, that is exactly the point.

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 20:02:09 +0000

Tor operators are the main ones at increased risk. But the key point that there's no good reason for any of them to be at increased risk at all.

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 19:58:36 +0000

That's a perfectly fine response, and it's completely logical.

However, Tor self-righteously insists it is improving human rights, especially for improving human rights outside the west.

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 19:55:09 +0000

> I have much respect for Virgil, but I also think Tor is in need of a rebrand at home.

Thanks! I love you too.

> These are things that economic resources that have to answer to Western political authorities will run from, and if the project needs funding, it needs to have a feel-good message that supporters can parrot to politicians and others that actually have power.

This is a totally reasonable response. I would be delighted if Tor Project could make a pronouncement like this.

As a reply, I saw no indication they were having trouble appeasing western authorities---e.g., they had no trouble getting DARPA money for the big MEMEX project. They are voluntarily cutting themselves off from defense because they dislike the politics of the funders. Instead, they are piloting themselves into a position where they are forced to take money from human-rights funders just to stay afloat. And becoming "Human Rights Watch for Nerds", makes Tor work vastly more difficult in the Asia Pacific.

I agree with you that Tor could use a rebrand, but this is a poor choice of one.

New comment by romanpoet in "Tor’s Branding Pivot Is Going to Get Someone Killed"

romanpoet — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 19:44:20 +0000

You can run relays in Singapore. But you'll first want to leave your cellphone number with the police so they give you a call before visiting you at home.

After the pivot there remain two Singapore relays run by brave operators.

https://atlas.torproject.org/#search/SG

> Will the new greater emphasis on human rights cause Singapore's authorities to give it greater scrutiny? Maybe, maybe not. But it certainly won't help.

Yep. That's the argument. Their pivot is not the end of the world, but it definitely hurts.