Re: [tor-relays] Relay security, re: local network

[Martin Kepplinger <martink@xxxxxxxxx>]

Cook:
> On 26.9.2013 23:25, Roger Dingledine wrote:
>> EFF recommends against it in their Legal FAQ:
>> "Should I run an exit relay from my home?"
>> https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq
>>
>> Their recommendation comes from dealing with one too many distraught
>> relay operators who had confused DEA agents show up at their house and
>> take everything including their toaster "because it might be evidence".
>>
>> In general we've been doing pretty well at teaching law enforcement in
>> the US about how Tor works:
>> https://blog.torproject.org/blog/trip-report-october-fbi-conference
>> but a) there are many other countries out there, and b) all it takes is
>> one guy who didn't read his "there's this thing called Tor" briefing,
>> or didn't believe it, to ruin your day/week/month.
>>
>> So, feel free to do it, but also be aware there's a
>> tiny-but-hard-to-actually-estimate chance of getting to spend a lot of
>> time teaching people about Tor.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> --Roger
>>
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> 
> So exits are desperately needed, but not badly enough to recommend
> running them where it would be the most convenient to set up, easiest to
> troubleshoot and manage, and most cost-effective to run (my personal
> experience and opinion, may not reflect that of others)? Granted, many,
> if not most consumer connections are capped too low to be of much
> individual value in terms of output volume, but i recall reading
> somewhere on these mailing lists and/or the Tor Project FAQs about how
> important diversity is, as opposed to clustering most exits to a handful
> of physical locations with fat cables.
> 
> I don't mean to sound rude, i just hate the way the world works with
> these things. Don't we all?
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Well yes. The thing is, even if you wouldn't have legal issues (which is
also not garanteed when you run an exit that shares it's IP with real
laptops and PCs people use), you would be annoyed and create a hard time
for those laptops and PCs in that network. Webservices will at some
point block your IP and even if it's temporarily, if it's the one
service you need _now_ you regret running that exit node.

You won't have any such problem running a middle relay. And it helps as
well. And you'll get the traffic you set in your torrc over time.

Running an exit is not hard. Just make sure it's the only machine behind
a (real) IP. Rent a vserver with root access for about 10 bucks a month,
you wont even need a machine yourself. Or find some "housing" service
where you can put your own little machine that get's its own IP. And
keep the installation simple. Run tor only. And read the 2 or 3 pages on
the website on running an exit.
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