Operating a Tor Relay
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Operating a Tor Relay
1–10 of 104 posts
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#2Tor is a project I want to like and support, but can’t. I feel (and I have no evidence) that for every 1 person using it to protect their privacy, 20 are using it for despicable purposes. I would love to be proved wrong on this.
I don’t want to shut it down, but at the same time I don’t feel I can personally or technically support it.
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#3I often wonder what incentives drive people to run TOR exit nodes; the risk even if remote of getting raided is enough to stop most I'd imagine. Got me thinking on the legal implications and interestingly TOR doesn't recommend running an exit node at home -
Found this FAQ quite interesting https://2019.www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en
Particularly
~Has anyone ever been sued or prosecuted for running Tor? No, we aren't aware of anyone being sued or prosecuted in the United States just for running a Tor relay. Further, we believe that running a Tor relay — including an exit relay that allows people to anonymously send and receive traffic — is legal under U.S. law.
~Should I run an exit relay from my home? No. If law enforcement becomes interested in traffic from your exit relay, it's possible that officers will seize your computer. For that reason, it's best not to run your exit relay in your home or using your home Internet connection.
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#4Tor is a project I want to like and support, but can’t. I feel (and I have no evidence) that for every 1 person using it to protect their privacy, 20 are using it for despicable purposes. I would love to be proved wrong on this. I don’t want to shut it down, but at the same time I don’t feel I can personally or technically support it.
I imagine the same is true for the use of guns. I’ve operated a middle/guard relay for little over a year now 24/7, and I keep doing it for that one person who genuinely need it.
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#5I often wonder what incentives drive people to run TOR exit nodes; the risk even if remote of getting raided is enough to stop most I'd imagine. Got me thinking on the legal implications and interestingly TOR doesn't recommend running an exit node at home - Found this FAQ quite interesting https://2019.www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en Particularly ~ Has anyone ever been sued or prosecuted for running Tor?…
I’ve read [citation needed] that some people enjoy doing it because they want to give (back) to the community and because they would like to try having to deal with anything from spam complaints (e.g. Automatically) and legetimate complaints and requests. Maybe also because “somebody has to”. :)
For me, my middle relay is sufficient entertainment. It’s like a digital pet that doesn’t need much attention except an update/upgrade about once or twice a month.
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#6I often wonder what incentives drive people to run TOR exit nodes; the risk even if remote of getting raided is enough to stop most I'd imagine. Got me thinking on the legal implications and interestingly TOR doesn't recommend running an exit node at home - Found this FAQ quite interesting https://2019.www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en Particularly ~ Has anyone ever been sued or prosecuted for running Tor?…
I’ve read [citation needed] that some people enjoy doing it because they want to give (back) to the community and because they would like to try having to deal with anything from spam complaints (e.g. Automatically) and legetimate complaints and requests. Maybe also because “somebody has to”. :) For me, my middle relay is sufficient entertainment. It’s like a digital pet that doesn’t need much attention except an upd…
Interesting, thanks for sharing. What - if any costs are involved for you?
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#7Tor is a project I want to like and support, but can’t. I feel (and I have no evidence) that for every 1 person using it to protect their privacy, 20 are using it for despicable purposes. I would love to be proved wrong on this. I don’t want to shut it down, but at the same time I don’t feel I can personally or technically support it.
If you lived in a country with strict media censorship would you oppose its relaxation just because you felt that bad people would exploit the resulting situation?
I've read somewhere that over the last decades people in Western countries have accepted a gradual diminution of their civil liberties in order to protect society from terrorists. That's how totalitarian regimes have persuaded populations before, in fact Goering explained how it works at his trial.
Privacy should be the default and just because bad people will exploit that is no reason to deprive society at large of it. The police etc will just need to work with that limitation.
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#8I often wonder what incentives drive people to run TOR exit nodes; the risk even if remote of getting raided is enough to stop most I'd imagine. Got me thinking on the legal implications and interestingly TOR doesn't recommend running an exit node at home - Found this FAQ quite interesting https://2019.www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en Particularly ~ Has anyone ever been sued or prosecuted for running Tor?…
Running an exit node safely at a vps provider is equivalent to donating 10 USD/month, and you can often choose a region where you want this help to go like asia or the americas.
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#9Tor is a project I want to like and support, but can’t. I feel (and I have no evidence) that for every 1 person using it to protect their privacy, 20 are using it for despicable purposes. I would love to be proved wrong on this. I don’t want to shut it down, but at the same time I don’t feel I can personally or technically support it.
FWIW, I have been doing all of my non-multimedia browsing over Tor for about a decade now. It provides cover traffic for people who actually need the anonymity and I feel like it is a step in the right direction to frustrate state and corporate surveillance.
Some sites break, but I have observed less and less sites breaking compared to a few years ago. Also browsing is fast enough as to not be distracting, it is like being on a mobile internet connection all the time. It is still lousy to come across sites which don't serve even static content to Tor users. I can understand going into a read-only mode, but throwing an HTTP 403?
This comment, posted from Tor :)
Re: Operating a Tor Relay
#10Tor is a project I want to like and support, but can’t. I feel (and I have no evidence) that for every 1 person using it to protect their privacy, 20 are using it for despicable purposes. I would love to be proved wrong on this. I don’t want to shut it down, but at the same time I don’t feel I can personally or technically support it.
You would be surprised by who uses it. Iran and other places have a serious need for tor.