[tor-relays] Fwd: Computer requirements for a modest (15-20Mbs) relay?

Andy Isaacson adi at hexapodia.org
Tue Jul 30 10:50:56 UTC 2013


On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 01:23:13PM -0400, Zack Weinberg wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 12:35 PM, Andy Isaacson <adi at hexapodia.org> wrote:
> > Yes, there are cases of law enforcement seizing all computer gear from a
> > house with a exit node -- not just the exit node computer.  Most
> > recently in Austria in a child porn investigation.
> 
> We did some operational planning for this risk, in conjunction with
> the university legal and IT departments, when we set up the CMU Tor
> exit.

Similarly for Noisebridge / Noisetor, we decided to host at a commercial
facility separate from our "production servers" both for
cost-per-bandwidth and separation-of-risk reasons.

I don't think it's very likely that cops would bust down a door at CMU
to sieze equipment under an ill-conceived investigation; having an
institution is quite helpful in getting the cops to actually do their
jobs and validate their suspicions.  (Unfortunately.)

> Also, the greater operational threat is having the plug pulled by
> one's connectivity provider.  I personally would not risk having an
> exit node in my house for that reason alone.

In my case (and, I suspect, most of us "well paid techies"), I would be
back online with new hardware and a 4G modem a few hours after the cops
finished their smash-and-grab, so while losing the higher bandwidth of
the fixed line and the use of my hardware would be quite inconvenient,
it wouldn't be the end of the world.  It's important to have a
contingency plan for this case, though.

-andy


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