[tor-relays] Supporting TOR: Seeking Affordable and Reliable Server Providers in Eastern Europe

[boldsuck]

On Montag, 2. September 2024 14:54:55 CEST gus wrote:

Hello Alex,

First of all, it's nice that you're on the list.

Maybe you would like to listen in on the meeting on Saturday.
(It's anonymous and without a webcam)

https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/2024-August/021814.html
I had already added your foundation in the pad ;-)

> On Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 11:48:51AM +0300, Alex Swabbie via tor-relays wrote:
> > Hello everyone,
> > 
> > I’ve been a fan of Tor for many years now, and my affinity for anonymity
> > naturally extends to other interests, such as Monero… 😉
OT: Do you already know the new DEX?
https://haveno-reto.com/
 
> > I’ve successfully rallied like-minded individuals who have generously
> > supported our cause through various grants, and we’ve even received a
> > government subsidy from the Czech Republic to promote freedom of speech
> > in oppressive regimes.
> Regarding the government subsidy from the Czech Republic that you
> mentioned, could you please provide more details and any relevant links?
> Transparency is crucial for building a trusted community, and this
> information would be beneficial for everyone.
> 
> > With a substantial sum of money at our disposal, we’ve chosen to allocate
> > a portion to support the TOR project. Currently, we operate around 60
> > servers. Our main challenge, unsurprisingly, is with exit servers.
> > Convincing providers to overlook automatic complaint notifications has
> > proven quite tricky. From our original 30 exit nodes, we’re down to about
> > 5—the rest had to be shifted to relay nodes. We could switch them to
> > well-known operators like RDP.sh, but they already host a large number of
> > exit nodes, and we prefer to encourage network diversity.
> > 
> > We’ve initiated something akin to a cost-sharing model for enabling our
> > servers to run exit nodes, but it hasn’t made a significant impact.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to find a provider for exits. Where it is allowed, 
there are usually many others.

The best option is your own AS. Unfortunately, you need a whole /24 for that.
An alternative would be, for example, a /27 subnet with a shared whois (SWIP) 
entry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_Whois_Project

If you have the abuse entry for your IPs, then you can operate your tor-exit 
pretty worry-free.

Since you're talking about government subsidy, maybe it's possible for the 
government or provider to lend you IP space. If you can get IPs somewhere, ask 
on this list for a LIR who can register them for you with RIPE.
Once you have an AS, you can operate your own servers. A cheap colocation 
provider is, for example:
https://serverius.net/colocation/server-colocation/

An offer for 1/8 rack + 1 x /29 IPv4 network and /64 IPv6 network:
https://www.myloc.de/en/colocation/colocation-offer.html
(For me, 40 relays generate several terabytes per day, and several petabytes 
per month.)

> I also wanted to share that we're currently discussing a new policy for
> the Tor relay community focused on incentivization models. You can check
> it out here:
> https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/community/policies/-/issues/22
> 
> > We want to spend our funds wisely to support Tor. Do any of you have
> > suggestions for good, affordable providers in less conventional locations
> > (e.g., Eastern Europe like Poland, Hungary, Ukraine)?

You can inquire about IP subnets and dedicated servers at
https://lowendtalk.com

List of SirNeo:
https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/185210/tor-relay-bridge
https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/186269/cheap-hosters-that-allow-tor-exit-node

> Lastly, I noticed that your domain name includes "Tor".
> Please be aware that we request you avoid using "Tor" in your product or
> domain name to prevent any potential confusion. Our goal is to ensure
> that people clearly understand what is officially associated with The
> Tor Project and what is not.
> 
> From our Trademark FAQ:
> 
> Q: Can I use the word "Tor" as part of the name of my product or my domain
> name?
> 
> A: Please don't use Tor in your product name or domain name. Instead,
> find a name that will accurately identify your products or services.
> Remember that our goal is to make sure that people aren't confused about
> whether your product or project is made or endorsed by The Tor Project.
> Creating a new brand that incorporates the Tor brand is likely to lead
> to confusion, and commercial confusion is a sign of trademark
> infringement.
> 
> https://www.torproject.org/about/trademark/#trademark-faq-3

Just as a note:
Many others have used the word onion in a local language for foundation and 
domain.


-- 
╰_╯ Ciao Marco!

Debian GNU/Linux

It's free software and it gives you freedom!
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