[tor-relays] Tor Exit: Complaints of IP being used for "spam" despite exit policy

[Neel Chauhan]

Hi,

On 2022-05-04 12:31, lists at for-privacy.net wrote:
> Yes, unfortunately you get this SPAM abuse, although it is clear that 
> the mail
> was submitted via a webmailer :-(

Probably true.

>> Sometimes I think "is my FreeBSD exploited and being used to send 
>> spam",
>> but then I also see Linux relays on other ISPs also on the blocklists.
> 
> It's actually very unlikely that a longer running exit can send mails. 
> ;-)
> I can't even send myself log mails from my exit IP's because all IP's 
> are
> blacklisted. On abusix.com and similar.

If you need to send emails, you could:

a. use Sendgrid or Mailgun or whatever to send emails if they don't 
block exit IPs from connecting to their SMTP relays

b. Run your own SMTP relay on a $3.5 VPS to forward emails

> If possible, try to get an ARIN SWIP record:
> https://blog.torproject.org/tips-running-exit-node/
> 5. Get ARIN registration

I could look into that. I do have a LLC that I could use for the SWIP 
record if needed.

> 99% of the abuse is f*cking auto-generated stuff from tools like 
> fail2ban. If
> you reply, you will not get an answer or 'message is undeliverable' 
> back.

Probably true.

Psychz is still more automated but not so much, but I do know some hosts 
where abuse is very automated to the extent that they ignore automated 
complaints. Think AWS, Azure, OVH, or DigitalOcean, or a Big Telecom 
provider like Comcast, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, etc.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, some hosts such as GTHost and 
Primcast both asked me to turn off my exit relay due to "too much abuse" 
because their abuse departments are very manual.

>> BuyVM is similarly priced (although my Psychz is an special offer) and
>> solid but has too many exits. OVH and TerraHost only allow exits on 
>> much
>> more expensive dedicated servers. Prgmr and HostMaze allow exits but 
>> has
>> so-so peering.
> https://rdp.sh/ is not overcrowded yet.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I prefer to run my exits on FreeBSD (well, I am a FreeBSD committer), 
but I will keep rdp.sh in mind in case I need a new host.

> We all hope with you.
> As I've mentioned here before, IPv6 only relays are important. An AS 
> with
> IPv6/48 is affordable. Then it's much easier to set up your own 
> bulletproof
> ISP.

That sounds good :-). I'd love to have my own ASN, but don't have the 
mental or financial bandwidth to do this right now.

Fortunately Psychz got off my case, for now at least :-).

-Neel