RE: ExitPolicy: ports 1024-65535 needed?

["Keith Ray" <keith@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>  From my understanding, conencting tor clients get to pick 
> their routes through the network. Suppose they were to pick 
> an exit node whose exit policy doesn't support the port they 
> want to connect to. Do they hear about it? How easy would it 
> be for them to pick another exit node? 

The client knows what the exit policy of any particular router is because it
is published in the directory.  The client will choose an exit router that
supports the ip/port they are trying to reach.

> A nice feature would 
> be for users to be able to choose their level of exposure 
> (web only, BT and smtp if they feel ok handling complaints, 
> etc). What implications would this have on the anonymity and 
> security of the network if this were the case?

This is exactly what the exit policy does.  It allows each router the
determine what level of potential abuse it is willing to tolerate.
 
> I would imagine that even users with completely blocked exit 
> policies (middleman nodes?) would be helpful contributors.

Absolutely!  In the current 3 node per circuit design, two of the three can
be middleman routers.  This helps share the load and the more independent
non-evil routers in the network, the better chance you have of picking a
non-compromised circuit.

  --
Keith Ray <keith@xxxxxxxxxxx> -- OpenPGP Key: 0x79269A12