

EFF: Help Protesters in Iran: Run a Tor Bridge or a Tor Relay - uriel
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/06/help-protesters-iran-run-tor-relays-bridges

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avner
While I am sympathetic to the cause, the biggest problem with routing anything
tor is that you will almost certainly, rapidly lose control over the traffic
and its content. The average geek should _really_ know what sort of
repercussions a tor node can unleash if things go wrong. The administrator
(you) of the exit node has almost no control over this.

I urge anyone who plans to run a tor node to please take the necessary steps,
if possible to avoid a situation like
[http://calumog.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/why-you-need-
balls-o...](http://calumog.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/why-you-need-balls-of-
steel-to-operate-a-tor-exit-node/)

~~~
biohacker42
This is all true, but if A LOT of people suddenly start running will the
police knock on everyone's door?

Will the administration take any part in this, will they ask law enforcement
to back off on tor exit nodes? They were tech savy enough to ask Twitter to
reschedule their planned down time.

In any case, the EFF should publish a legal guide in what to do in case the
police do come knocking on your door because your IP showed up in some crime
related log.

~~~
cstejerean
I'm not sure what the EFF could put in such a guide. If the police believe you
are involved in child pornography and get a warrant they will at a minimum
come to your house and seize all of your computers to gather evidence. I can't
imagine what exactly training the EFF can give people to prevent that from
happening once the police show up.

And chances are that if you're tech savvy enough to run a Tor exit node that
you'd rather not loose all of your computers for the several weeks or months
it might take to get them back.

~~~
biohacker42
The EFF could advice people on the legal wall between corporations and
individuals. Or how to start a corp. rent a tiny office and run a dedicated
tor node from there.

~~~
retardcity
I could be completely wrong, but it doesn't seem like you'd be much better off
owning a corporation which is a front for child pornography (which is how it
would be portrayed).

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mileszs
Aside from Slicehost[1], has anyone found a host to be happy to let you run a
Tor relay? I'm thinking of emailing the prgmr.com gentleman (who I know is
around here somewhere... hi!).

[1] A couple articles about running Tor on your Slicehost slice:
[http://www.tequilafish.com/2009/06/21/slicehost-setting-
up-a...](http://www.tequilafish.com/2009/06/21/slicehost-setting-up-a-tor-
relay-on-fedora-to-help-keep-iran-connected-iranelection/) <http://www.orient-
lodge.com/node/3622>

~~~
dfranke
I'm running one on Linode. I filed a support ticket first to let them know.
This was the answer:

 _Tor exit nodes are not against our TOS, but we will forward any abuse
reports on to you and we do expect them to be handled. Also, keep an eye on
your bandwidth though. Tor nodes can burn through bandwidth in a hurry and if
you go over you'll end up being charged for it._

~~~
uriel
> Tor exit nodes are not against our TOS, but we will forward any abuse
> reports on to you and we do expect them to be handled.

I'm somewhat unclear on what does it mean for "them to be handled'? If you are
running a tor node there is nothing you can do about any abuse reports.

~~~
dfranke
Replying to the complainant with an explanation of Tor.

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mileszs
For those worried about running a relay and dealing with people abusing you as
an exit node, here is a good article from Tor about minimizing abuse of your
node: [https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tips-running-exit-node-
mini...](https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tips-running-exit-node-minimal-
harassment)

One tip that you should immediately be aware of is that you don't _have_ to
run an exit node. You can force your relay to act only as an intermediary, in
which case you almost certainly are not going to get any calls about abuse
(because you won't exist in any server logs).

------
buugs
If you do I hope you can make sure you aren't part of any illegal activity
such as the trafficing of child pornography.

~~~
Confusion
Just like you ask all manufacturers of photographic equipment to make sure
they aren't used for any illegal activities, such as photographing nude
children?

~~~
buugs
No because people have had issues because of said reason.

~~~
pmjordan
"Issues" is putting it mildly. Prepare to be treated as an accomplice, if not
worse, if the traffic is traced to your IP address.

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moo
The DoD characterizes protesters in the U.S. as low level terrorists. I wonder
how the U.S. government would feel about foreign nationals helping home grown
low level terrorists.

~~~
planck
Do you have factual support for your first statement?

~~~
dfranke
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526972,00.html>

but the answer to the OP's question is that the feds are aware of all this,
and they don't mind: <http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1096#comment-237988>

------
biohacker42
Nokia has had some bad p.r. recently thanks to their products that the Iranian
government is using.

I hope Nokia starts running a whole lot of Tor relays soon.

