[tor-bugs] #15469 [Tor]: Remove data structure containing unique IP address sets

["Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki" <blackhole@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

#15469: Remove data structure containing unique IP address sets
-------------------------+---------------------
 Reporter:  karsten      |          Owner:
     Type:  enhancement  |         Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |      Milestone:
Component:  Tor          |        Version:
 Keywords:               |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:               |         Points:
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 Relays keep a data structure of unique connecting IP addresses for
 statistics and for informational purposes.

 We should consider removing that data structure.  There's a privacy risk
 in gathering unique IP address sets in memory and in reporting aggregate
 statistics based on them.  If we don't need these statistics, we should
 stop reporting them and stop gathering the underlying data.

 The main (and only?) data structure containing unique IP address sets is
 `clientmap` in `src/or/geoip.c`.  If we remove that data structure, we
 would also have to remove:

  1. the `dirreq-v3-ips` line from extra-info descriptors,
  2. all "bridge statistics" including `bridge-stats-end`, `bridge-ips`,
 `bridge-ip-versions`, and `bridge-ip-transports` lines from extra-info
 descriptors,
  3. all "entry node statistics" including `entry-stats-end` and `entry-
 ips` from extra-info descriptors,
  4. the log line `"Heartbeat: In the last %d hours, I have seen %d unique
 clients."`, and
  5. the `CLIENTS_SEEN` controller event.

 1 and 3 are not used.  2 is used by Metrics to estimate the number of
 daily bridge users, and we'd need to implement #8786 before removing
 bridge statistics.  atagar thinks that 4 was added by Sebastian a few
 years back, so that relay operators with certain simple use cases don't
 need to open a control port and run something like arm.  5 is used by arm
 for one of its dialogs, and atagar thinks it's not the end of the world to
 lose that.

 Thoughts?

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/15469>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online
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