Dear relay operators,
We invite all Tor relay operators to join the discussion about the "Guidelines
for sustainability and incentivization proposals in the Tor Community".
For your convenience, the proposal text is included below. If you prefer
reading the markdown version, you can find the latest draft in the
Community policy repository on Gitlab[1].
Similar to the contact info proposal discussion[2], the guideline
proposal will follow the established process described in our meta
proposal policy[3].
[1] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/policies/-/issues/22
[2] https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/policies/-/issues/17
[3] https://community.torproject.org/policies/relays/001-community-relay-operator-process/
"""
```
* Filename: xxx-guidelines-for-sustainability-and-incentivization-proposals.md
* Title: Guidelines for sustainability and incentivization proposals in the Tor Community
* Author: gus - gus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
* Created: 2024-06-11
* Status: Open
```
## Overview
This document outlines guidelines for sustainability and incentivization
proposals for the Tor community. The guidelines are designed to prevent
exploitative and abusive practices and preserve the volunteer-driven
nature of the Tor community. We want to ensure that Tor remains an open
and inclusive network and community for all users and contributors, and,
at the same time, we want to encourage proposals to support and sustain
the Tor network.
## Motivation
The Tor community is shaped and driven by the principles outlined in the
Tor Project's [Social
Contract](https://community.torproject.org/policies/social_contract/),
[Code of
Conduct](https://community.torproject.org/policies/code_of_conduct/),
and other policies such as the [Expectations for Relay
Operators](https://community.torproject.org/policies/relays/expectations-for-relay-operators/).
The Tor network is powered by a diverse community of operators, also
known as relay or network operators. The Tor network is the backbone of
Tor and relies on the collaboration and support of thousands of
volunteers, who donate their resources and bandwidth to ensure that
users all around the world can access the free and open internet in a
secure and anonymous way.
Managing relays can create extra costs and expenses, for example, the
cost of bandwidth, new hardware, dedicated IPv4 addresses, and, when
operating exit nodes, in a few cases, legal costs. While some volunteers
are able to cover the operational costs by themselves or by associating
with others friends, growing the Tor network in a diverse and
sustainable way is one of the open challenges for non-profit networks.
There are multiple and different approaches to achieve this goal. As a
non-profit organization, we seek proposals for sustainability and
incentivization that may include financial resources, yet our primary
goal is not to transform our community into a for-profit business.
Shifting from a collaborative framework to a for-profit business model
can impact the dynamics of the Tor Community and introduce new legal
challenges. While many countries permit the operation of a Tor relay,
shifting to a paid or for-profit service model could reclassify the
network as a "commercial service provider", subjecting it to a different
set of legal requirements and obligations. You can read more about the
problem of for-profit models on the Tor blog post: [Safeguarding the Tor
network: our commitment to network health and supporting relay
operators](https://blog.torproject.org/tor-network-community-health-update/).
### Sustainability models over for-profit models
It's clear for the Tor Project that sustainability proposals, including
both financial and non-financial rewards, must enhance collaboration and
help the community to grow, rather than marginalize contributors and
undermine the volunteer-driven nature of the network and the Tor
community. The proposals must respect and maintain the Tor relay
operator community diversity while aligning with the goals and mission
of the Tor Project.
Incentivization proposal refers to a plan, scheme or strategy designed
to encourage specific behaviors or actions through various incentives
such as swag, gamification, or virtual points (e.g. Reddit's karma).
Acceptable incentives primarily encompass non-financial rewards that
recognize and motivate the community's contributions. Examples of such
incentives include public acknowledgment, rewarding operators with [Tor
swag](https://community.torproject.org/relay/community-resources/swag/),
highlighting their contribution on Tor social media channels, inviting
operators to the Tor Project in-person events, and so on.
These incentives are designed to value the community's commitment
without introducing monetary motivation, which could potentially erode
the collaborative nature of volunteer participation. They aim to
reinforce the intrinsic motivation of contributors, with a sense of
belonging and achievement, while avoiding the complexities and potential
conflicts associated with financial compensation.
The guidelines described in this document ensure that sustainability and
incentivization proposals are developed and managed transparently,
fairly, and in the best interest of the Tor community, free from undue
influence or bias.
## Guidelines for sustainability and incentivization proposals
As outlined above, contributors willing to work on such proposals, must
follow these guidelines:
[Table of Content] 1. Policy compliance 2. Preservation of the Tor
Community collaboration and its spirit 3. Innovation must preserve and
respect the Tor Community diversity 4. Regulation of fundraising
campaigns, donations and reward systems 5. No fee or "donation" for
participation or to "unlock" rewards 6. Fraud, cheating, and abuse
prevention in Tor incentives 7. Conflict of Interest Policy 8. Reporting
scammers and avoiding risks 9. Frequently Asked Questions
### 1. Policy compliance
- Any sustainability or incentivization proposal for the Tor network
and the relay operator community, must comply and adhere to the Tor
Project's [Community
Policies](https://community.torproject.org/policies), including but not
limited to the Tor Project Code of Conduct, Social Contract, Statement
of Values and must follow the process described on: [Process for new
policies and proposals for the Tor relay operator
community](https://community.torproject.org/policies/relays/001-community-relay-operator-process/).
- Proposals and projects must follow and comply with the Tor Project
[Trademark](https://www.torproject.org/about/trademark/) policy.
Don't use Tor in your product name or domain name. Creating a new brand
that incorporates the Tor brand is likely to lead to confusion, and
commercial confusion is a sign of trademark infringement.
- Incentivization proposals or schemes of any nature that jeopardize
this policy will lead to the removal of the authors and
collaborators from the Tor network and the Tor Community.
### 2. Preservation of the Tor Community collaboration and its spirit
Proposals must incentivize collaboration and sustainability of the Tor
Community:
- The Tor network operates as a non-profit and a collaborative
community.
- Rewards and incentivization proposals whether they involve monetary
elements or not (like gamification strategies), must not disrupt the
collaborative foundation of the Tor operator community.
- The goal is to build a trusted Tor relay operator community,
dedicated to defend and promote the Tor mission, rather than
motivated and driven by individual financial profit.
- For example, simplifying the process to facilitate the creation of
local Tor relay associations is a proposal that respects and
preserves the Tor Community.
### 3. Innovation must preserve and respect the Tor Community diversity
- We encourage innovative collaboration methods that promote
inclusivity, diversity, and the growth of the Tor network and our
Community of operators.
- These methods should not put our users and contributors at risk or
be in detriment of our core values.
- We do not believe that there is only one model or a single path to
incentivize or sustain relay operations. We believe that Tor relay
operators and contributors have different motivations and sustainability
proposals must ensure that they are preserving and respecting the Tor
Community diversity.
### 4. Regulation of fundraising campaigns, donations and reward systems
It is crucial to draw a clear distinction between genuine donations made
in support of the Tor Project's mission and exploitative financial
schemes (aka pyramid or Ponzi schemes) aimed solely at profiting from
the network's resources without contributing to the health of the Tor
network and advancing Tor's mission. For instance, relay associations
conducting their fundraising activities, such as selling t-shirts, are
definitely aligned with the mission of the Tor Project and this policy.
In this context, proposals involving any kind of reward or financial
systems, such as tokens or cryptocurrencies, must seek and obtain formal
and written approval from the Tor Project Executive Director before its
implementation or any stage of execution (for example, promotion and
outreach).
Failure to proactively seek approval will lead to the exclusion of the
project and its affiliates and associated from the network and Tor
Community. Furthermore, legal measures may be pursued to rectify any
financial or reputational harm incurred as a result of such actions.
Vetting central entities: Proposals involving central entities such as
collective wallets, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), or
other intermediaries should be approached with caution and require
approval by the Tor Project. These entities must be clearly identified
and evaluated for their reliability, and the potential risks they pose
should be thoroughly assessed. This includes considerations of their
possibility to misbehave, for example, they could refuse service, could
extort relay operators by demanding extra fees in order to release their
reward, or could 'inflate' the digital currency (coins, tickets,
guesses, etc.) by printing its own tokens for a profit, as highlighted
in Rob Jansen's [research and blog
post](https://blog.torproject.org/tor-incentives-research-roundup-goldstar-par-braids-lira-tears-and-torcoin/).
Consent for fund handling: It is mandatory for operators and
intermediaries to obtain clear and explicit consent (written approval)
before claiming or managing funds on behalf of others. This rule is
crucial to maintain the transparency and trust within the community.
Prohibition of unofficial financial activities: Unauthorized fundraising
or financial activities conducted by intermediaries, especially those
claiming to act on behalf of other operators without explicit consent
and approval from The Tor Project, are strictly forbidden. Such
activities, if promoted, posted, or shared on Tor communication channels
(such as forums, mailing lists, chat channels), will lead to the
immediate removal of the content and the exclusion of the individuals
and entities responsible.
Whether formally registered or operating on an informal basis, all Tor
relay operators are authorized to launch fundraising and donation
initiatives to support their ongoing non-profit relay operations within
the Tor network. It is advised and recommended to handle the donations
in a transparent way. This can be achieved by maintaining a specific web
page that discloses the total amounts received by donations alongside
with the operational costs.
### 5. No fee or "donation" for participation or to "unlock" rewards
The sustainability proposals must be designed to avoid creating a divide
within the Tor network, particularly between free and paid tiers. To
ensure Tor remains accessible to all:
- Participation in sustainability or incentivization proposals and the
acquisition of rewards must be completely free of any charges.
- True incentives for network contribution should not require relay
operators to incur any direct (such as product purchases) or
indirect expenses (like fees).
- Any system not approved officially as described in this policy by
the Tor Project that forces contributors and relay operators to
purchase tokens, coins, hardware, or any form of digital or physical
assets as a prerequisite is strictly prohibited.
### 6. Fraud, cheating, and abuse prevention in Tor incentives
- Any proposed incentivization must incorporate a design that is
resilient to fraudulent activities and exploitative behavior.
- This includes verification processes for operators, and transparent
and auditable reward distribution methods. The proposal's author
must put in place measures to prevent fraud and gaming the system.
- As part of their threat model and security concerns, proposals need
to include a section analyzing potential scenarios of fraud,
cheating, or abuse. A mitigation plan must ensure that the
incentivization system remains fair, equitable, and true to the spirit
of voluntary contribution that is crucial for the Tor community.
### 7. Conflict of Interest (COI) Policy
Proposals and their implementation must follow this policy of Conflict
of Interest:
- All individuals and entities involved in the development, promotion,
or management of sustainability and incentivization proposals for
the Tor relay operator community must disclose any potential conflicts
of interest and disclose the lack of a conflict to the Tor Community
Policy editors, Tor Project Network Health and Community Team Leads.
- These conflicts could include, but are not limited to, financial
gain, personal relationships, or affiliations with organizations
that could benefit directly or indirectly from the proposal. The
definition of financial gain, affiliation and relationship will be added
to the Tor Community Policies repository as a new informative proposal.
- The Tor Project Inc (TPI) employees must follow the TPI Conflict of
Interest policy.
- Any party found to have a conflict of interest must immediately
report to the Tor Project to either resolve the conflict in a way
that aligns with the standards set by the Tor Project or voluntarily
withdraw from the decision making process related to that conflict. The
report must be sent to the Tor Project Network Health and Community Team
Leads.
### 8. Reporting scammers and avoiding risks
Unfortunately, scammers and bad actors are not new to the Tor Community
and probably they won't go away anytime soon. If you want to report a
project using the [Tor Project
trademark](https://www.torproject.org/about/trademark/), the best way to
do this is to email: frontdesk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. If your report is about
malicious relays on the Tor network, please submit your report to
bad-relays@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
The Tor Project is committed to maintain the anonymity and privacy of
those who report. Be warned that sharing suspicious content on public
channels will get your post excluded and your account banned by
moderators.
Relay operators should exercise caution regarding the source of their
funds. In cases where there is suspicion that received donations may
come from an illicit or controversial source, potentially jeopardizing
one's reputation, operators are strongly advised to seek counsel from a
legal advisor or contact their local relay association for guidance.
### 9. Frequently Asked Questions
#### Q1: I'm a relay operator, and someone wants to buy me a beer for
contributing to Tor, do I really need to submit a proposal?
No, donations in any form do not require a proposal.
#### Q2: I'm part of a relay association and we want to raise money to
run more relays, how do we know if we need to apply?
If you're operating as a non-profit, you do not need to apply. Relay
associations are considered part of the Tor Community.
#### Q3: I'm a cryptocurrency enthusiast, with an epic DAO tokenomics
that is going to moon 10x in three weeks, you want a POAP? Join my
discord!
Before going to moon, please submit a full proposal to us, earthlings.
#### Q4: I built a hardware device that people can buy to plug in and
contribute to the Tor network as a relay, do I need to apply?
As long you do not use 'Tor' as part of your product name and you're
following the Tor Project policies, you are not required to apply.
However, meeting with the Tor Project is strongly recommended. Please
note that there are other hardware projects being developed by the Tor
community, for example, by Science & Design, Inc. [Pi
Relay](https://pirelay.computer/).
#### Q5: I'm a VPN company and I built into our app a way to contribute
a snowflake proxy, should I rip that out until I figure out how to do
this process?
No, although Snowflake is part of the Tor network, it's different from
relays as we cannot remove "bad" snowflake proxies. However, we
recommend getting in touch with the Tor Project Anti-censorship Team to
ensure you're following their best practices and policies.
#### Q6: We are a company who makes a cryptocurrency wallet application.
We've built Tor support into our app to transmit transactions over the
tor network for network-level privacy protections. We get a cut of those
transactions. We want to give back by running relays, but do we need to
apply to do that?
Depends, if your wallet users are paying a fee to run a relay, then,
yes, you need to write a full proposal. If you're talking about donating
profits from your business and you've declared your 'MyFamily' relays,
then following the [Expectations for Relays
Operators](https://community.torproject.org/policies/relays/expectations-for-relay-operators/)
is enough.
## References
* Safeguarding the Tor network: our commitment to network health and supporting relay operators (2023) https://blog.torproject.org/tor-network-community-health-update/
* Tor incentives research roundup: GoldStar, PAR, BRAIDS, LIRA, TEARS, and TorCoin (2014) https://blog.torproject.org/tor-incentives-research-roundup-goldstar-par-braids-lira-tears-and-torcoin/
* Two incentive designs for Tor (2009) https://blog.torproject.org/two-incentive-designs-tor/
"""
Thanks,
Gus
--
The Tor Project
Community Team Lead
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