3 ms·

If you're reading this, care and have some spare bandwidth, may I suggest you set up Tor relay? Because you know, Tor wouldn't be possible without people and or

by borism 16y ago

If you're reading this, care and have some spare bandwidth, may I suggest you set up Tor relay? Because you know, Tor wouldn't be possible without people and organisations willing to volunteer. The setup is pretty trivial with Vidalia UI and UPnP router, and you don't have to be using Tor yourself.

anamax 16y ago
It may soon be even easier than that. http://www.geekosystem.com/tor-router/ http://www.geekosystem.com/tor-router/
- getsat 16y ago
  This is great! I'm hoping that it does, in fact, allow you to run as a relay with the option to run as an exit node. Running a relay is nowhere near as (potentially) legally problematic as running an exit node based upon what I've read.
igravious 16y ago
I have 2 problems with Tor relays even though I am essentially (strongly) in favour of the idea of distributing our information load to protect privacy. 1) I am a student, I use the bandwidth of the campus - could my position as a student be hurt by some of the material that flows through Tor? What I am saying here is that really one should not run a Tor relay unless you are paying for your own bandwidth. 2) I am uneasy about what kind of information I might inadvertently relay. Some of the information could be very objectionable, very unethical, downright criminal, couldn't it? I would love to think that my Tor relay is being used 100% by victims of oppressed regimes but I have a feeling other less desirable types would use it too and I don't want to be a part of that. How would you respond to these observations / queries ?
- jamesbritt 16y ago
  "I would love to think that my Tor relay is being used 100% by victims of oppressed regimes but I have a feeling other less desirable types would use it too and I don't want to be a part of that." How else could it work, though? If it is indeed anonymous then a) you have no way of knowing to what ends it is serving, and b) it is eminently usable by people doing very objectionable, very unethical, downright criminal things. But that's the only way it could be of true value to victims of oppressed regimes, etc. You'll have to weigh the net gain or loss.
  - borism 16y ago
    2) by being Tor relay, well, you relay traffic for other Tor users. If you find some content objectionable (be it child pornography or cnn.com) you can block that content from being reachable to your relay with other tools (ip/dns blacklisting, content filtering etc.). Your relay will then be relaying content you haven't blocked. 1) ownership of bandwidth is a gray area. I run my Tor relay on the ISP link I pay for, but that doesn't necessarily mean I own the link or it's alright by ISP's ToS. But as long as you're not using most up/downlink 24x7 (not possible on most home links due to asymmetry anyway), I think ISPs won't bother counter-measuring you.
    - jamesbritt 16y ago
      " If you find some content objectionable (be it child pornography or cnn.com) you can block that content from being reachable to your relay with other tools " If you can read the content passing through your Tor relay then you see when there is discontent in oppressed country Foo, and you can alert the leaders to crush the rebellion. I certainly hope that people who resort to Tor to avoid detection are smart enough to use encryption.

by borism 16y ago

anamax 16y ago

It may soon be even easier than that. http://www.geekosystem.com/tor-router/ http://www.geekosystem.com/tor-router/

getsat 16y ago
This is great! I'm hoping that it does, in fact, allow you to run as a relay with the option to run as an exit node. Running a relay is nowhere near as (potentially) legally problematic as running an exit node based upon what I've read.

igravious 16y ago

I have 2 problems with Tor relays even though I am essentially (strongly) in favour of the idea of distributing our information load to protect privacy. 1) I am a student, I use the bandwidth of the campus - could my position as a student be hurt by some of the material that flows through Tor? What I am saying here is that really one should not run a Tor relay unless you are paying for your own bandwidth. 2) I am uneasy about what kind of information I might inadvertently relay. Some of the information could be very objectionable, very unethical, downright criminal, couldn't it? I would love to think that my Tor relay is being used 100% by victims of oppressed regimes but I have a feeling other less desirable types would use it too and I don't want to be a part of that. How would you respond to these observations / queries ?

jamesbritt 16y ago
"I would love to think that my Tor relay is being used 100% by victims of oppressed regimes but I have a feeling other less desirable types would use it too and I don't want to be a part of that." How else could it work, though? If it is indeed anonymous then a) you have no way of knowing to what ends it is serving, and b) it is eminently usable by people doing very objectionable, very unethical, downright criminal things. But that's the only way it could be of true value to victims of oppressed regimes, etc. You'll have to weigh the net gain or loss.
- borism 16y ago
  2) by being Tor relay, well, you relay traffic for other Tor users. If you find some content objectionable (be it child pornography or cnn.com) you can block that content from being reachable to your relay with other tools (ip/dns blacklisting, content filtering etc.). Your relay will then be relaying content you haven't blocked. 1) ownership of bandwidth is a gray area. I run my Tor relay on the ISP link I pay for, but that doesn't necessarily mean I own the link or it's alright by ISP's ToS. But as long as you're not using most up/downlink 24x7 (not possible on most home links due to asymmetry anyway), I think ISPs won't bother counter-measuring you.
  - jamesbritt 16y ago
    " If you find some content objectionable (be it child pornography or cnn.com) you can block that content from being reachable to your relay with other tools " If you can read the content passing through your Tor relay then you see when there is discontent in oppressed country Foo, and you can alert the leaders to crush the rebellion. I certainly hope that people who resort to Tor to avoid detection are smart enough to use encryption.