Is Tor a Pressure Valve?
Roger Dingledine, one of the lead Tor developers, estimates 30000 people in China running Tor clients. Could it be that Tor is being used as a pressure valve to keep those 30000 people content? I know I would be pretty damn pissed off if I was no longer able to access Wikipedia, WordPress.com, Blogspot, Technorati, BBC News, and various other sites that have most definitely been blocked just by accident, such as my brother-in-law’s homepage.
I would certainly like this to be the case, as it means that the more people use Tor the greater the pressure would be if Tor were suddenly blocked, and given the ever increasing number of people using Tor there would be a decreasing chance Tor would be blocked. However, if something bad happened, like widespread discontent brought on by, say, a major recession, the Chinese government could decide that it is less beneficial to allow the pressure out than it is to crack down entirely on dissent and block Tor. Hopefully by the time China does experience a major recession the government will be confident enough (and dare I say legitimate enough?) to deal with discontent in a more mature and progressive way other than a massive crackdown.
