[tor-relays] Explaining Tor to worried parent

Andrew Deason adeason at dson.org
Wed Nov 14 01:13:22 UTC 2018


On Mon, 12 Nov 2018 13:53:55 +0100
DrNotThatEvil <relay at wilv.in> wrote:

> Have you guys/gals ever faced situations similar to this? How did you
> handle it?

I have not, but to add to what others have said:

- One of the benefits of running an exit is that it can be educational,
  from the perspective of the law as well as technology. You can get
  some experience with dealing with DMCA/abuse requests and potentially
  talking to law enforcement about a service that you can be confident
  of the legal status of. That can be valuable before you need to talk
  to LE or "rights holders" for any other reason throughout your life.
  Assuming niftybunny is correct on that info of operators getting
  prosecuted, you are arguably more likely to be prosecuted for
  something you have no relation to (e.g. police paperwork mixing you up
  with someone else) than for running an exit.

- You mentioned "employment opportunities", but assuming your field of
  choice is related, I would think that running an exit would _improve_
  your employment opportunities, even (or especially) if you encounter
  public legal trouble as long as you're not stupid about it.

- If it's causing you issues, just run a middle relay; it's not a big
  deal. All relays (properly configured etc etc) are useful, even
  bridges. If you're pretending that you're making a big difference to
  some poor persecuted insurgent in China or whatever, keep in mind
  that I don't believe exits help clients reach hidden services, but
  middle relays and bridges do.
  
- Running relays/exits is "cool" (...right?). You're just not with it,
  mom.

Just don't run an exit from home.

-- 
Andrew Deason
adeason at dson.org



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