[tor-relays] Feedback wanted: letter to my university's library

[Scott Bennett]

"Tor Node Admin @ SechsNullDrei.org" <tor at sechsnulldrei.org> wrote:

> Hi AJ,
>
> First, thank you for supporting Tor!
>
> Second, you're smart to contact the library, as IT would immediately shut
> down the idea as they don't want to receive more abuse emails than they
> already do (I know we did when I worked in academia).  An additional
> resource you may wish to research is the https://libraryfreedomproject.org/
> by Alison Mecrina.  The resources available on this site speak directly to
> librarians on such issues.  Good luck!
>
AJ and any others in similar situations,
     I would add a few comments, beginning with the style of communications
with your university library.  When you wish to ask for some special
consideration, find out whom you need to talk with about your request, and
then make an appointment to visit his/her office in person.  Sending an email
message out of the blue and beginning it with "Heya!" is utterly inappropriate
and is not at all likely to get you anywhere.  You must act--and write--like
an adult, and formality in your initial written communications is essential.
They are not going to let someone acting like an ill-mannered adolescent run
a server on their department's equipment.  If you come across as a responsible
adult who makes a good impression and provides a good case for satisfying the
request, a case that looks good from the university's point of view, which is
to say, convincing them that it would benefit the university in some way, then
you may get somewhere with them.
     If you convince them, however, be prepared to find out that the staff has
decided to run the relay itself.  The department may well have to run it past
the university's legal department.  Because you are not acting as a university
employee, either or both departments may not be willing to make the university
liable for possible consequences of a non-employee's actions.  I know that, as
a systems programmer at the university here, I would never have let anyone out
of our group, much less outside of our department, do anything like running a
relay on a machine under my responsibility.  I wouldn't have risked having to
clean up someone else's mess, and my boss would have been apoplectic at the
idea.  The security issues would have overwhelmed everything.
     OTOH, you might still get lucky.  It would definitely be worth your time
to find out whether the university (e.g., through its computer center or
library) or some other individual, department, or college office is already
running one or more relays.  Faculty members at some universities have been
known to get special arrangements to run tor relays, even exits, on university-
owned equipment.  At some schools, faculty members would not likely even be
questioned about it.  Note, for example, that many individual faculty members
and sometimes even (paid) graduate assistants run web servers to publicize
their research and results.  Note that any networking staff will want to know
how much of the available network capacity your networking program (in this
case, tor) would require if the decision were to allow it.  Asking to run an
exit is almost certain to subject your request to legal department scrutiny,
so you might consider running a middle/entry node first for some time, say six
or twelve months, before asking to upgrade your relay to an exit relay.  That
would give time to establish your skill at managing a relay, responding well
and quickly when problems occur, to become personally known to the staff, and
so forth.  Once you've established a good reputation with them, they are more
likely to oblige you.
     In any case, best wishes for your attempt.  Please let us know whether
you pull it off and, if so, what you did that succeeded.


                                  Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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