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

[Roger Dingledine]

On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 07:31:42PM +0000, delber wrote:
> What we have found though, is that several smaller (not-for-profits or
> coops) ISPs would be happy to help the Tor network, provided there is a
> clear legal boundary. Something that our not-for-profit would create.
> The downside is that they are small, so the cost of their bandwidth is
> between a monthly 3??? and 10??? (when it is not even more) for each Mbps
> (95%ile). But they would stand in case of trouble. And some of them have
> an economic interest as using more bandwidth would lower their overall
> cost per Mbps.
> 
> One of them is willing to sponsor some of the bandwidth, and it looks
> like a good place to start an initial set of nodes. But even with their
> sponsoring, $100/month will not cover hosting+bandwidth expenses.
> 
> It might be something desirable though. If external funding does not
> cover all the costs, then we will have to campaign for other donations.
> A good habit, as it makes it more likely that at least some of the nodes
> would survive in case the external funding stops.

This sounds like a great idea. One of our goals here is to give other
organizations a chance to start up and be like torservers.net.

It is definitely a smart idea to get your community helping to cover
the costs. Having just one sponsor makes you very fragile.

It's also a smart idea to keep talking to ISPs, and find some that want
to sponsor some of the bandwidth as you describe above. They're out there
if you look hard enough! :)

Be sure to use the resources here (like Julian) for advice too.

--Roger