[Freedombox-discuss] Initial User Experience (was: Tor .onion domains)

[Sandy Harris]

On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 6:43 PM, Jonas Smedegaard <dr at jones.dk> wrote:

> But let's not talk about my mom.  Let's invent a persona - Jimmy:
>
> Jimmy is not at all interested in engaging in cyberwar - he just wants
> to hang out with friends.  Some of his friends do not appear at Facebook
> and asking them about it In Real Life, they suggest him to go buy one of
> those FreedomBoxes to join their virtual hood.  Sure, some of those
> friends may be Freedom Fighters, but he is not (yet).
>
> Jim activates the box, is asked a few questions, and is then hooking up
> with his friends.

Let's also consider Fei Fei. who also is not interested in becoming a
warrior, but wants to access various things her government blocks.
In China right now that means Facebook, Twitter, and most blog
sites. The list changes from time to time, and other governments
block different things.

Just using the Tor extension to Firefox will (usually) get her to most
blocked sites, but not to Facebook because they refuse connections
from (some? all?) proxies. I do not know if it works for Twitter.

She may not be making a lot of money, so she's much more likely
to use a friend's box than buy her own. We cannot think in terms
of a single-user Freedom Box, because in many places they wiil
almost certainly be shared.

In Europe or North America, one person per bicycle and two per
motorcycle is normal. In China, indeed in much of Asia, two on
a bicycle and three or four on a motorcycle is completely normal.
The most I have seen is five, but friends report six and there's
a well-known photo with eight. I expect the boxes to be used
something like that.

The people I would consider most likely to use these boxes
in China would be the young educated ones. A few days
back I saw two university-aged couples headed out on a
double date -- on one 125 cc motorcycle. If one of them
gets a box, I'll bet all four plus several classmates use it.