[tor-bugs] #17857 [Core Tor/Tor]: Create a consensus param to disable (netflow) padding if RSOS is enabled

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#17857: Create a consensus param to disable (netflow) padding if RSOS is enabled
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 Reporter:  teor                           |          Owner:
     Type:  enhancement                    |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium                         |      Milestone:  Tor: 0.2.???
Component:  Core Tor/Tor                   |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                         |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  rsos, sos, tor-hs, isaremoved  |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                                 |         Points:  1
 Reviewer:                                 |        Sponsor:
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Comment (by asn):

 I get bad feelings about adding more torrc options or consensus
 parameters, but the bandwidth overhead here is indeed worth reducing.

 BTW, if we introduce the consensus parameter, why turn it on by default?
 Does the netflow padding offer any additional security to SOS services or
 tor2web clients? IIUC, if the client of the SOS service does netflow
 padding, then they are protected. I'm not sure how that works out for
 tor2web.

 Also, reading the top post:

   In the meantime, however, we should provide the ability to disable
 netflow padding via the consensus for these services. With a consensus
 param, we can monitor the netflow padding overhead in relay extra-info
 descriptors, and experiment with turning padding for RSOS/SOS on and off
 while observing the change in total overhead at relays.

 I think that asking the dirauths to toggle this switch just for us to do
 statistical measurements is not going to work out. Also, I feel that the
 stat noise will cover any traffic produced by the few SOS services on the
 network.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/17857#comment:12>
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