[tor-talk] Reliable server hosting company for Tor exits?

Robin Kipp mlists at robin-kipp.net
Wed Aug 22 14:07:05 UTC 2012


Hi guys,
having used Tor for quite a while now and educated several people on how to use it to surf anonymously and enhancing privacy, I'm now at a point where I really would like to give back and make a contribution to the network by hosting a Tor exit node. Currently, I'm already running a Linux root server hosted by Hetzner Online in Germany. I've already been running a Tor relay on that for quite a while, but sadly had to find out that the server's IP subsequently got added to several EMail blacklists - despite the server only being a relay and not an actual exit node! Since I rely on that server for my day-to-day EMail communications, I thus had to shutdown the relay and kindly ask the DNSBl providers to remove me from their blacklists, which luckily they did.
However, like I said above, I still would like to contribute to the Tor network and set up an actual exit, and am willing to spend the money required to rent another dedicated machine for that purpose. But now, my problem really is... Where should I really host this server? After all, chances are someone will abuse my server's IP for whatever purposes, and I'm willing to deal with abuse notices and reply with all the nice texts about Tor provided by the EFF and the Tor project. However, I'd rather not want to deal with police officials storming into my home and temporarily arresting me for whatever reason. For that reason, I think hosting the Tor exit server at Hetzner in Germany really isn't the best option. Instead, I'd much rather choose a provider in a country with better privacy regulations, such as Sweden or possibly Holland. I've already been looking around for server hosters there and found some, however many of them prohibit the use of services like Tor on their servers.
So, I just wanted to take this as an opportunity to ask all of you Tor exit node hosters on here... Which hosting companies are you using for these purposes? Which of them have the greatest tolerance when dealing with abuse requests, and are possibly educated about Tor exits and their abuse potencial? Are there any that will protect my personal details such as name, address, etc. or will they all happily surrender to the authorities in case of any trouble and turn over that info to them?
Thanks a lot for any input on this topic, any help greatly appreciated! :-)
Robin


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