3 ms·

why is running a proxy a bad thing? someone profiting off it could be bad maybe, but even that is good if it pays for my subscription. but compare running tor

by em-bee 3mo ago

why is running a proxy a bad thing? someone profiting off it could be bad maybe, but even that is good if it pays for my subscription. but compare running tor nodes, and especially exit nodes. that surely would be a good thing, so at least if you think tor is good then running a proxy should be the same and it should be normalized. doing it in secret without the user knowing is what's bad

glitchc 3mo ago
Indeed without my permission is implied. Without it, you have no idea what traffic is being routed and could be on the hook for something nasty like CSAM.
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
- Dylan16807 3mo ago
  Those are different issues. Permission doesn't mean you know what the content is, and lack of permission doesn't mean they're going to load anything weird or bad. Lack of permission implies worse ethics overall, but an operation focused on clicking ads will be loading relatively normal sites.
- inigyou 3mo ago
  Has that ever actually happened? Has anyone gone to court for downloading child porn that was actually through a residential proxy?
  - iamnothere 2mo ago
    No. You would not be “on the hook” for this as they implied. They are fearmongering. Even if a statute could somehow be stretched to cover it, it would be a nightmare to prosecute something like this. The media would jump all over it.
    - inigyou 2mo ago
      That's what I thought but I want to see their evidence that it happens.
corbet 3mo ago
https://lwn.net/Articles/1080822/ https://lwn.net/Articles/1080822/ Do you really want to be a part of the scraper problem?
- MrDrMcCoy 3mo ago
  From the outside, I don't see the problem. The sites I visit, including LWN, never seem slow or have downtime as a result of this increase in traffic. I hear complaints from people hosting small sites, but they never seem to include concrete examples of downtime or measurably bad user experience. Why does it matter if the server load is high if everything stays functioning? Going from 5-20% to 60-80% load hardly seems like a catastrophe to me when the remaining headroom was not going to be used for anything else. Having your data that's public-enough to be scraped/cited/parodied/ridiculed included in a training set also doesn't seem like a problem. Are they struggling to pay bandwidth usage bills? Is there some actually-necessary intervention required to keep things running smooth, as opposed to panicking and taking unnecessary preventative action?
40four 3mo ago
Because your home IP address is going to be associated with criminal activity. So if that’s acceptable “payment” then I guess there’s no issue
- inigyou 3mo ago
  What concrete harm does this cause?
- em-bee 2mo ago
  if proxies are legal, then i am not associated with what goes through my proxy. ISPs ate not associated with the activity that goes through them either. and what about tor? should that be shut down too? or is there a legitimate reason for it to use residential proxies?

by em-bee 3mo ago

glitchc 3mo ago

Indeed without my permission is implied. Without it, you have no idea what traffic is being routed and could be on the hook for something nasty like CSAM.

deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]
Dylan16807 3mo ago
Those are different issues. Permission doesn't mean you know what the content is, and lack of permission doesn't mean they're going to load anything weird or bad. Lack of permission implies worse ethics overall, but an operation focused on clicking ads will be loading relatively normal sites.
inigyou 3mo ago
Has that ever actually happened? Has anyone gone to court for downloading child porn that was actually through a residential proxy?
- iamnothere 2mo ago
  No. You would not be “on the hook” for this as they implied. They are fearmongering. Even if a statute could somehow be stretched to cover it, it would be a nightmare to prosecute something like this. The media would jump all over it.
  - inigyou 2mo ago
    That's what I thought but I want to see their evidence that it happens.

corbet 3mo ago

https://lwn.net/Articles/1080822/ https://lwn.net/Articles/1080822/ Do you really want to be a part of the scraper problem?

MrDrMcCoy 3mo ago
From the outside, I don't see the problem. The sites I visit, including LWN, never seem slow or have downtime as a result of this increase in traffic. I hear complaints from people hosting small sites, but they never seem to include concrete examples of downtime or measurably bad user experience. Why does it matter if the server load is high if everything stays functioning? Going from 5-20% to 60-80% load hardly seems like a catastrophe to me when the remaining headroom was not going to be used for anything else. Having your data that's public-enough to be scraped/cited/parodied/ridiculed included in a training set also doesn't seem like a problem. Are they struggling to pay bandwidth usage bills? Is there some actually-necessary intervention required to keep things running smooth, as opposed to panicking and taking unnecessary preventative action?

40four 3mo ago

Because your home IP address is going to be associated with criminal activity. So if that’s acceptable “payment” then I guess there’s no issue

inigyou 3mo ago
What concrete harm does this cause?
em-bee 2mo ago
if proxies are legal, then i am not associated with what goes through my proxy. ISPs ate not associated with the activity that goes through them either. and what about tor? should that be shut down too? or is there a legitimate reason for it to use residential proxies?