[tor-relays] Close friend

[Paul Syverson]

On Mon, Aug 18, 2014 at 04:41:33PM +1200, Christian Gagneraud wrote:
> On 18/08/2014 4:26 p.m., Rex Wolf wrote:
> >On 17/08/2014 9:11 PM, IceFish ThreeTwo wrote:
> >>I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the Family option in torrc is
> >>used so that nodes administrated by the same person never make a
> >>circuit with each other, which somehow protects anonymity. Should my
> >>friend and I put each other's fingerprints in the Family field? Seems
> >>logical since we know each other and if the point of theFamily field
> >>is to protect anonymity.
> >
> >Hi IceFish,
> >
> >The MyFamily option is what you've described--an option used so that
> >nodes administered by the same person / entity will only be used once in
> >any given circuit (other nodes from the same family will not be used in
> >the same circuit).
> >
> >This isn't so much to protect your anonymity as a relay operator, but to
> >limit any one client's potential vulnerability. For example, if one
> >relay operator happens to control both the guard node and the exit node
> >in a circuit, they can correlate the timing of packets entering and
> >exiting the network, and determine both a person's identity and the
> >content of their traffic.
> 
> On the other hand, if I'm a bad guy who as lot of entry and exit nodes, I
> will certainly not disclosed it by using a "MyFamily" flag...

Right. It's not meant to guard against that. But if you're honest and
you are threatened or coerced or your relays are otherwise collectively
compromised, MyFamily limits the damage.

aloha,
Paul

> 
> Chris
> 
> >You and your friend may know each other, but unless you both administer
> >each other's nodes, I don't think you would need to use the MyFamily option.
> >
> >  -Rex
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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