[tor-relays] Usefulness of very limited exit policy nodes?

[Zenaan Harkness]

On 5/27/14, Matt Puckey <matt at puckey.org> wrote:
> On Tue, 27 May 2014 16:04:00 +1000
> Phil <phil at urbanoia.net> wrote:
>> Opinions please - is it worthwhile running an exit node on a home DSL
>> connection with limited bandwidth and exit policies?
>
> It all depends on whether or not you want to 'put up' with the potential
> 'hassle', which could be slightly different compared to as if it was in
> a datacenter somewhere. If your ISP is informed that you're an exit
> node, then great. Just remember, you will be mixing your own personal
> traffic with Tor traffic, that is the main issue I think you might face.
>
> I honestly think that you would be better off being a bridge,
> especially if you have a change of public IP address every now and
> then, like most home lines.

I read a lot of the torproject.org website before running our exit
node, and I found the issues laid out to be reasonable from my
perspective - when we believe in something like free speech, or
freedom of travel, some of us (like myself) feel a conscientious duty
to take a stand to promote that which we believe in, as I did.

The website said full exits are needed the most, from the tor network
perspective, so that's what I decided to set up.

With the bandwidth level you (Matt) are suggesting, I think a full
exit would even be fine from that point of view. I ended up cross
grading to a business level plan with our isp iiNet (Australia), in
order to get a static ip, since the effect of ip changes was too
severe on the exit traffic (in my personal opinion) since it usually
meant an effective network drop out once a day. Then Telstra (the
upstream national/backbone isp) started changing the ip address much
more frequently - probably because that had a positive effect on their
overall network availability, with minimal customer complaints. So I
cross graded and got a static IP.

There was a brief day or so when Telstra's ip changing came back into
play, and an incorrect ip was being alternately assigned to the
correct ip address. Once that was sorted, the connection
(gracemissionstor fwiw) has been pretty rock solid, except for the
occasional rural power outage we experience.

Oh, when I cross-graded, I did speak at some length with the iiNet
tech guy about our intention to run our "free speech node" being a TOR
exit node, how that helps wikileaks and various minorities around the
world to experience a level of freedom of speech which is not
otherwise possible.

They were cool with that.

So, primarily I recommend: Speaking with tech support of your isp, and
ask them some question about running a tor "free speech" exit node and
are there are any issues you need to keep in mind when you set that up
on their network.

In this way, you begin to build a relationship of open communication
and readiness to respond to any issues that may (or may not) arise.

Make sure you are diligent in the guides/recommendations on the
torproject.org website, such as having a valid contact email address
etc etc.

Good luck :)
Zenaan