Re: Tor Exit Node Sponsorship - looking for partners

[Moritz Bartl <tor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I was asked by mail if I was interested in $5 a month. To make that one
clear: Yes, I am! I want to fund a node. Depending on the number of
people, amounts of money, wishes for services, I will try to find the
best suitable hoster. The three posted were just examples of what I have
in mind. Just contact me, I'll add you to the list, and keep you posted.

>When speaking in terms of bandwidth, e.g. 150Mbps, then I'd rather
>spread it across n machines with 150Mbps/n each.

I understand that it is far from ideal. Still, one has to be practical.
Currently, one machine is responsible for 25% of exit traffic. Of
course, a large number of smaller nodes with good (unrestricted) exit
policy would be best, but why don't we have them already then ..?

Apart from Mike Perrys arguments, I'd like you to see me as an ISP,
offering independent VPS for Tor hosting, with an additional "Tor
friendly" abuse handling. All I can do is promise (and put it in the
contract) that I will not monitor the traffic. Then you're better off
than with most ISPs out there that shut you down for running Tor or even
demand 200 Euro for forwarding one abuse message.
If I was the first ISP to offer small VPS, preconfigured Tor exit nodes
with root access for customization, then it's a small step towards
saying that at the same time, I can put all efforts into one bigger node
instead.

I mean, what is better, one ISP that explicitly allows Tor, handles
abuse, and encrypts the drives, or an ISP that shuts down your virtual
server the first time it gets a complaint and maybe monitors your
traffic? Strato, the second largest hoster in Europe, once called the
police on one of their dedicated servers, because they suspected
criminal behavior, by watching the traffic - on their own initiative. I
can never make sure that the traffic isn't logged upstream. Also, most
ISPs offering VPS are not very explicit about the configuration of their
virtual machines, you have to try and see if Tor works first. I will
make sure that it does.

If you look at bandwidth and hardware prices, once you rent servers,
additional bandwidth is cheap. Example: At FDCServers, you get a
dedicated machine with 10mbit/s for $50, 100mbit/s (and better hardware)
for $160, and 1000mbit/s for $500. I don't aim for the Gigabit, but
10mbit/s is just not economically worthwhile.

>Kickstarter has three disadvantages: [...]

Indeed. I am neither US citizen, nor do I plan to (only) accept Amazon
Payments. I see PayPal as one alternative, yes, but in the end it
depends on where the people who would like to fund a node live. I am
German, EU payments can be made without any fees to my bank account.

For organizing payments, I am currently looking into billing software,
but haven't been able to find something that suits my needs. I don't
have a problem organizing monthly mass email for 20 people ("please, pay
your fee, by your payment processor of choice among the following...").

I would also like theoretically to accept anonymous donations for a node
(not for the VPN/webspace stuff of course), but the problem there is not
so much accepting it (PSC, Ukash, Liberty Reserve etc), but making sure
that the money comes in regularly to fund the node.

Before working on the details, I want to make sure there is actual
interest in such a node.

You have to open to a world of people who see the good in Tor, but
either don't have the time or the knowledge to run an own exit.

-- 
Moritz Bartl
GPG 0xED2E9B44
http://moblog.wiredwings.com/
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