Re: Blocking child pornography exits

["Ron Wireman" <ronwireman@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 21/07/07, Pat Double <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Saturday 21 July 2007, Ron Wireman wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Why doesn't the EFF implement an option like 'no_exit_cp="YES"' for
> server configurations that would allow people to block child
> pornography?  I wish to run a tor exit node but, having been molested
> as a child, will not do so until such a feature exists.
>
> Thanks.

I understand your concern. What needs to be understood is the separation of
concerns principle. Let the Tor people make an anonymizing network. As has
already been stated, there is an ExitPolicy feature that can be used to block
sites. IIRC the squidGuard project maintains a blacklist of sites (including
other kinds like software pirating, casinos, etc) that may be desired to be
blocked. A sensible way to attack this may be to write a script that
periodically downloads the blacklist and translates that into a set of
ExitPolicy statements, then HUP tor to reload it.

What OS are you on? If a Un*x variant should might try tackling this, shell
scripts are not that difficult.

--
Pat Double, pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Ye must be born again." - John 3:7

Unfortunately, this 'separation of concerns' you're a proponent of doesn't work in the real world.  In the same way that you can't insert a piece of metal into someone with a high calibre rifle without grievously injuring then, you can't run a completely open anonymous router network without being a conduit for child abuse and other evils.  For any action, there may be many possible results, and it seems to me that if one of the evils is overwhelming, it is artificially hedging the issue to say you have no responsibility for it.  If tor can't be designed in a way that strongly discourages or prevents people from using it for evil, it shouldn't exist.