Re: Can I run a relay when I can't port forward?

[or-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Puffenstuff wrote:

> So, short story, I want to run an exit node, but I am on a network
> that does not provide port forwarding for incoming data. My
> understanding of network protocols has always been a little fuzzy but
> I was wondering if I connected to a proxy could I use that to make my
> relay visible to other relays.

You could, but just the same as on your own network, they too could
block this if they wanted to.

> The proxy can be transparent, all it has to do is route traffic to
> me. Then I could act as an exit node. Is this practical?

You need their consent to do this. When they get abuse complaints the
evidence points in your direction.

> Is any proxy I find going to be too slow to be useful?  How would I go
> about finding a (free) proxy(s)

A free proxy for your exit node? Dream on .. ;-)

"Open proxies" are zombified home computers, poorly configured caches
or honeypots for the most part. Slow, abusive and illegal to use.

There are or have been Tor nodes run from behind commercial proxies
though. Probably not many of them will allow you to run an exit node
because of the abuse, and not all will allow middle man either because
of the bandwidth requirements.

> (I think it would have to support SOCKS 4 or 5)? 

Yes, or OpenVPN, PPTP or a number of other protocols.

Good luck and thanks for wanting to help out.