What am I doing wrong? - if anything

[Lyndsay Roger]

Hi all

A few months ago I set up a tor node on a dedicated server in the UK.
I left it running as a relay node for a few weeks and then opened it
up as an exit node but only for a few restricted ports like web, pop
and imap.

A few days later I received my first abuse notice - someone had
searched a telephone directory too many times. I replied with an email
advising that the ip address was a tor exit node and I have not heard
anything else about that report since.

Thinking that things seemed not too bad running an exit note I decided
to configure my US based server as a tor relay. First as a relay only
for a few weeks and then as a restricted exit node. Again it only took
a few days before the first abuse notice and I replied with the same
email as I had done for the UK abuse report and never heard anything
more. A second abuse report arrived a few days later, replied again
and then things sat for a few weeks - all quiet with traffic flowing
through the machines.

During last weekend I changed the exit policy on the US server so it
would only restrict certain ports like P2P trackers, email etc (found
a list of ports to restrict on the wiki). Within 24 hours I had my
first DMCA notice. Someone had shared some songs/movies with
bittorrent via the exit node. First thing I did was to change back to
a restricted ports exit node. I then send a similar email as above(bad
move) to my hosting company advising the ip address was a tor exit
node. They did not like that so I followed up with the DMCA response
template email from the Tor project web site and I have not heard
anything since about that notice.

Today I checked the inbox and had an abuse report for the UK server
and another DMCA notice about the US server. I send off replies to the
hosting companies and all is quiet so far (and the plug has not been
pulled on the servers).

What I was wondering was - is this what the future holds? Get an abuse
report, send a reply and wait for the next. I looked through the email
archives and I have seen that some people have had worse. I guess it
depends on the company you are working with and how much they will put
up with.

Also do I just reply to the hosting company who forwarded me the
abuse/DMCA report or do I have to contact the abuse reporter. The US
company said I should file a DMCA Counter claim and work it out with
the person filing the DMCA claim. I live in Australia so am not sure
who I should be sending things to. From what I have read it should be
the hosting company.


Sorry for the long email but I was just wondering what other people
have experienced and any tips they may have on things I should do to
keep the nodes running for years without too much hassle.