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I really want to run an exit node because I'm a firm believer in what the Tor network does-but I'm really worried about being arrested for running one. Does any

by a2tech 13y ago

I really want to run an exit node because I'm a firm believer in what the Tor network does-but I'm really worried about being arrested for running one. Does anyone have practical experience running a Tor exit node?

kilroy123 13y ago
Great question. I would check out this page: https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en
- mistercow 13y ago
  >It is not a tool designed or intended to be used to break the law Isn't it though? If you use Tor to bypass an internet filter somewhere like China, are you not breaking the law there?
sbierwagen 13y ago
I ran an exit node on a mostly unused dedicated server for a while. I made the mistake of not limiting traffic to ports 80 and 443, and got a couple DMCA takedowns as a result of people torrenting stuff over tor, which caused the provider to cancel my contract. (I got all my files off first)
- devx 13y ago
  It's really bad when out of all the reasons governments can shut down Tor nodes, it's DMCA's that do it. If DMCA's really have that much power, then their reform is long overdue.
  - sp332 13y ago
    The takedown system is one of the very few good parts of the DMCA. Without it, content owners could sue the host (like YouTube) instead of having to go after the uploader. As long as the host takes down the content, they are basically immune to copyright prosecution. As far as I can tell, you are not "required" to take down content when you get a DMCA notice. Refusing it just makes you liable for the content under the rest of copyright law.
    - Dylan16807 13y ago
      It's better than nothing, but it's severely flawed. There is zero disincentive for filing false claims.
      - sp332 13y ago
        While it could certainly be improved, it does explicitly make false filers liable for damages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#.C2.A7_512.28f.29_Misrepresentations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_L...
        Dylan16807 13y ago
        It makes knowingly false claimers liable. Massive systematic negligence has zero punishment.
swalberg 13y ago
Yes, run the exit policy at https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/ReducedExitPolicy https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/ReducedExi... and put up the info page that comes in the tarball on your default vhost. The only problem I ever had in a year of running an exit relay was when I had a default allow-all policy and someone torrented something, triggering a DMCA notice. My provider, Linode, had no problems with it.
- rwmj 13y ago
  Ummm .. but port 80 & 443 are still open, so if someone downloads child porn then you'll get an early morning visit (and a lot more) from the police. What would be great would be if you could restrict the websites people could go to. I would gladly offer people in internet-oppressed countries access to bbc.co.uk (only).
  - dpeck 13y ago
    toss a proxy past your exit and you can restrict it any way you want.
    - rwmj 13y ago
      That breaks the Tor protocol. It means that non-bbc websites would appear to be blocked and unblocked at random as users used Tor. I had a discussion with one of the developers and basically Tor isn't designed to do this -- the blocks on each exit node have to be propagated through the network, and if every exit node did this then it would adversely affect the network in some way that I don't recall the details of.
  - olalonde 13y ago
    I don't think bbc.co.uk is blocked in any country.
    - rwmj 13y ago
      China, some of the time: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11962520 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11962520
mmagin 13y ago
I have no first-hand experience at it, but it seems like the best approach may be to set up and fund an organization which operates an exit node, rather than doing it in your own name. e.g. http://tor.noisebridge.net/ http://tor.noisebridge.net/ This might not work so well at a small scale, and it might be difficult to quantify how well this approach worked for them for reducing how the operators personally get harassed in this case -- at least one of the founders of Noisebridge has been harassed a lot about other things (Jacob Appelbaum).

by a2tech 13y ago

kilroy123 13y ago

Great question. I would check out this page: https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-legal-faq.html.en

mistercow 13y ago
>It is not a tool designed or intended to be used to break the law Isn't it though? If you use Tor to bypass an internet filter somewhere like China, are you not breaking the law there?

sbierwagen 13y ago

I ran an exit node on a mostly unused dedicated server for a while. I made the mistake of not limiting traffic to ports 80 and 443, and got a couple DMCA takedowns as a result of people torrenting stuff over tor, which caused the provider to cancel my contract. (I got all my files off first)

devx 13y ago
It's really bad when out of all the reasons governments can shut down Tor nodes, it's DMCA's that do it. If DMCA's really have that much power, then their reform is long overdue.
- sp332 13y ago
  The takedown system is one of the very few good parts of the DMCA. Without it, content owners could sue the host (like YouTube) instead of having to go after the uploader. As long as the host takes down the content, they are basically immune to copyright prosecution. As far as I can tell, you are not "required" to take down content when you get a DMCA notice. Refusing it just makes you liable for the content under the rest of copyright law.
  - Dylan16807 13y ago
    It's better than nothing, but it's severely flawed. There is zero disincentive for filing false claims.
    - sp332 13y ago
      While it could certainly be improved, it does explicitly make false filers liable for damages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#.C2.A7_512.28f.29_Misrepresentations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_L...
      - Dylan16807 13y ago
        It makes knowingly false claimers liable. Massive systematic negligence has zero punishment.

swalberg 13y ago

Yes, run the exit policy at https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/ReducedExitPolicy https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/ReducedExi... and put up the info page that comes in the tarball on your default vhost. The only problem I ever had in a year of running an exit relay was when I had a default allow-all policy and someone torrented something, triggering a DMCA notice. My provider, Linode, had no problems with it.

rwmj 13y ago
Ummm .. but port 80 & 443 are still open, so if someone downloads child porn then you'll get an early morning visit (and a lot more) from the police. What would be great would be if you could restrict the websites people could go to. I would gladly offer people in internet-oppressed countries access to bbc.co.uk (only).
- dpeck 13y ago
  toss a proxy past your exit and you can restrict it any way you want.
  - rwmj 13y ago
    That breaks the Tor protocol. It means that non-bbc websites would appear to be blocked and unblocked at random as users used Tor. I had a discussion with one of the developers and basically Tor isn't designed to do this -- the blocks on each exit node have to be propagated through the network, and if every exit node did this then it would adversely affect the network in some way that I don't recall the details of.
- olalonde 13y ago
  I don't think bbc.co.uk is blocked in any country.
  - rwmj 13y ago
    China, some of the time: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11962520 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11962520

mmagin 13y ago

I have no first-hand experience at it, but it seems like the best approach may be to set up and fund an organization which operates an exit node, rather than doing it in your own name. e.g. http://tor.noisebridge.net/ http://tor.noisebridge.net/ This might not work so well at a small scale, and it might be difficult to quantify how well this approach worked for them for reducing how the operators personally get harassed in this case -- at least one of the founders of Noisebridge has been harassed a lot about other things (Jacob Appelbaum).