[tor-relays] Call for discussion: turning funding into more exit relays

[mick]

On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 14:58:54 -0400
Roger Dingledine <arma at mit.edu> allegedly wrote:

> The result though is a direct tradeoff
> with relay diversity: on today's network, clients choose one of the
> fastest 5 exit relays around 25-30% of the time, and 80% of their
> choices come from a pool of 40-50 relays.
> https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/6443

That cannot be good for the health of the network. It reduces the
size and complexity of the attackers target. 

> Since extra capacity is clearly good for performance, and since we're
> not doing particularly well at diversity with the current approach,
> we're going to try an experiment: we'll connect funding to exit relay
> operators so they can run bigger and/or better exit relays.
> 
> If we do it right (make more faster exit relays that aren't the
> current biggest ones, so there are more to choose from), we will
> improve the network's diversity as well as being able to handle more
> users.

Improving diversity (rather than outright speed) is, in my view, a
greater priority given your point above. 

> We've lined up our first funder (BBG, aka http://www.voanews.com/),
> and they're excited to have us start as soon as we can. They want to
> sponsor 125+ fast exits.

Forgive me, but what do they want in return? ("He who pays the
piper...")

I'm ambivalent about the idea of funding. Whilst I can see that it
might help the Tor network to grow, I see downstream problems if
funding dries up (or is "threatened" to be withdrawn). Whilst
volunteer funding (and resourcing) can probably never provide the size
and speed of network we would all like to see, it has the advantage
of freedom from a lot of potential constraints. Being a Brit, I also
prefer the model of "unpaid blood donation" to the commercial
model used in some countries. (It just makes you feel good....)     

> More generally, we need to consider sustainability. Our current exit
> relay funding is for a period of 12 months, and while there's reason
> to think we will find continued support, the Tor network must not end
> up addicted to external funding. So long as everybody is running an
> exit relay because they want to save the world, I think we should be
> fine.

I agree 100%
 
Mick


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