
NH Library Votes to Reinstate Tor Relay - danyork
http://www.vnews.com/news/newsletter/18620952-95/library-joins-privacy-network
======
kauffj
The Valley News also printed my letter in support of Tor:
[http://www.vnews.com/opinion/18607311-95/forum-help-
lebanon-...](http://www.vnews.com/opinion/18607311-95/forum-help-lebanon-save-
energy-lebanon-can-vote-for-freedom-america-and-the-refugees) (2nd letter)
Hopefully it helped.

I've only lived in NH for a bit and it is crazy how different the attitudes
are here. I've never been any other place where people care as much about
individual liberty.

If you support this idea, you can donate to the Library Freedom Project here:
[https://libraryfreedomproject.org/donate/](https://libraryfreedomproject.org/donate/)

~~~
thenipper
> I've only lived in NH for a bit and it is crazy how different the attitudes
> are here. I've never been any other place where people care as much about
> individual liberty.

Speaking as a native(who now lives in Boston) who grew up just south of
Lebanon I find this attitude interesting. Growing up there wasn't much talk
about 'individual liberties'. It was much more along the lines of it ain't my
business about what my neighbor does. It just seems to be an interesting
shift.

Though I'm proud that Lebanon has decided to go this way. It's important and I
hope that other libraries follow their example.

~~~
radd9er
I also grew up in the area and am always suprised when I hear people describe
th climate in NH as the parent commenter. People do kinda keep to themselves,
especially the ones who go back many generations. But the libertarian types
seem to me to come from other places, attracted to NH because of the motto and
the reputation, which Im not sure it really deserves. Its a pretty typical
rural northeast place culturally, very close to VT or upstate NY (places I
have also lived).

~~~
digitalsushi
(Claremonter;) I had felt that our libertarian influence is equalized by the
constant Massachusetts immigration.

~~~
thenipper
Or Connecticut. I grew up in Acworth and I remember one of the roads in
Charlestown on my way down to school was called "Connecticut Heights". Always
made me chuckle.

------
stephencanon
Lebanon resident here.

I was impressed by the crowd that turned out for the board meeting last night.
Great numbers, unanimous support for the board to direct the library to
continue running the relay, and lots of people stood up to speak earnestly
about the value of doing so. Board members were happy to have so many
residents come out in support of them.

The fact that supporting tor indirectly supports some less savory parts of the
dark web was discussed at the meeting, but the general feeling was that the
benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.

~~~
zcdziura
I'm sad that I wasn't able to make it to the board meeting. While I don't live
in Lebanon, I was still very interested in hearing the discussion. It's nice
that out-of-townies were invited to speak and weigh in on this.

------
hobs
To be frank, reading that article was heartening. When I saw the original
articles posted about the Tor Relay going down at a library, I just wrote it
off as business as usual.

I am really glad their community understands the importance of unencumbered
speech!

~~~
thejrk
... and unencumbered access to CP and the dark web. Yup I bet they understand
everything.

~~~
cujo
This is the debate. How much liberty are you willing to give up to catch a few
bad apples?

~~~
zardo
We could end child abuse in this country (indoors anyway) if we just require
24/7 monitoring of every room in every building.

------
faster
> A former teacher, Waterfall likened the idea of taking Tor away to prevent
> the criminal activity of a few to a new teacher punishing the entire class
> for one student’s bad behavior.

It's more like punishing the class because one student MIGHT do something
wrong.

~~~
Lawtonfogle
I'm not sure it is a question of 'might'. If you give any way for people to
conduct illegal data trade online which protects them from prosecution, they
will use it. But to me it still makes as much sense as banning cars because
sometimes people drink and drive.

------
zcdziura
This is awesome news! I'm not surprised that the library's Trustees voted to
keep the relay online. As others have said, New Hampshire's residents care
quite a bit about individual liberties (Live Free or Die), so any time the
government attempts to impose its will on what we can and cannot do, there's
always a lot of feather ruffling. Makes for interesting small town politics,
but in this case, I say that smarter minds prevailed.

------
bobsgame
I teared up a little bit because this article made me remember believing when
I was a child that we lived in a truly free country, and I remember being
proud and grateful of that. That sense of freedom has been eroded so gradually
I didn't realize how significant it is.

------
Strikingwolf
Awesome that so many people could come out in support of privacy through the
Tor network, thanks for sharing OP

------
GoRudy
so pumped to see VNEWS on HN!!

