[tor-relays] Shutdown of my digital ocean guard relay

[mick]

On Thu, 15 Oct 2020 19:27:43 +0500
Roman Mamedov <rm at romanrm.net> allegedly wrote:

> 
> Could you point out which change you are referring to? The point 3.7
> saying that unmetered bandwidth accounts must not run "TOR" has been
> there since the earliest the Wayback Machine has it, from May 8th,
> 2018:
> 
Hi Roman

The new ToS says:

"5.6 As a reward for being early adopters of the Services, some Users
with older Accounts received free bandwidth promotions contingent on
their Accounts remaining operative, in good standing, and in compliance
with this TOS ("Free Bandwidth Accounts"). Free Bandwidth Accounts will
no longer receive free bandwidth if: (a) such Accounts are transferred
in ownership to third party; (b) such Free Bandwidth Accounts are used
in violation of this TOS (including the AUP); or (c) such Free
Bandwidth Accounts are used in connection with any of the following
activities: (i) run Torrents for download or Seed Servers, TOR, or
services that include content of an adult or pornographic nature; (ii)
resell or otherwise offer as a service such free bandwidth to third
parties; or (iii) otherwise circumvent or attempt to circumvent the
intended use of Free Bandwidth Accounts by redistributing the benefits
of free bandwidth to third parties."

Several things there tell me that Grandfathered accounts will be
dropped (or charged heavily) if they continue to run Tor.

The use of the past tense in "Accounts received free bandwidth".
The statement that such accounts will "no longer receive free
bandwidth if:" and then there is an explicit reference to Tor as well as
references to "offering free bandwidth to third parties" and
"redistributing the benefits of free bandwidth to third parties".

That looks like weasel legal wording to allow DO to charge heavily
because I "offer free bandwidth to others" through Tor.

All in all it looks as if DO no longer want Tor relays on their
network. So I'll look elsewhere. I already have a relay at Hetzner, but
I'm aware that they (along with OVH and currently DO) are
overrepresented and it would be better to find alternatives.

Best

Mick



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 Mick Morgan
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