[tor-relays] legal issues past and present

[David Carlson]

On 8/30/2013 1:04 PM, Andy Isaacson wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 11:38:26AM -0400, That Guy wrote:
>>> I run an exit node off of a residential Verizon connection and I 
>>> haven't seen a single threat, legal or otherwise so far, I dunno 
>>> why you're having so much trouble.
>> Thank you for the reply but I have not either.  My comments come from
>> reading many such issues on the mailing list and the many many
>> experiences documented on the Good/bad ISP lists on the torproject
>> websites.  I've had zero trouble with the sigle relay I'm running but
>> as I also try to encourage others to run relays I was curious as I
>> don't want to put OTHERS in a bad situation.
> I ran a non-exit relay at home for many years without hearing any
> complaints.  (I moved away from that ISP at the end of 2012 so I no
> longer run that relay).  I haven't seen a credible description of a
> non-exit relay being the cause of a complaint -- in most cases I have
> seen described, there were several possible causes for a complaint and
> the Tor relay was just one possible cause.
>
> So, I would have no problem encouraging others to run a non-exit relay
> on their home connection, since I don't believe that it is likely to put
> them in a bad situation.  I would be clear with them that they should be
> aware of the technical issues when doing so, of course.
>
> -andy
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I have recently seen several e-commerce websites blocking all traffic
coming from IP addresses that are known to be used by Tor relays,
including non-exit relays.  That means _all_ traffic, including
legitimate traffic.  In my personal experience, Ancestry.com and
justanswer.com are currently blocking my residential IP address because
I am running a non-exit relay from home.  Others are having similar
experiences.  If this is the beginning of a trend, the useability of Tor
will drop dramatically unless a counter-measure is developed.

David C
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