[tor-relays] What if my favorite online store website blacklists all Tor Relay IP addresses?

[Dave Lahr]

I'm in the same boat:  for example yelp.com and TDBank North are blocking
us.


On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 2:30 PM, David Carlson
<david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>wrote:

> It seems that at least two 'normal' online store websites that I visit
> from time to time have apparently decided to block my IP address which I
> am also using for a non-exit Tor relay.  I have had extended discussions
> with one of them and they considered unblocking my IP address to be a
> risk greater than the lost income (US $160/year revenue) was worth.
> They suggested switching to a different IP address, which was like
> pulling hens' teeth from my ISP.  To do that, I had to have a technician
> visit my house and install a new modem because they do not have a person
> who understands tech talk available for ordinary users, and I couldn't
> get sufficiently elevated in their support hierarchy.  The supposedly
> dynamic IP address that I get from them hardly ever changes, probably
> because I am buying U-verse television service from them.
> Now, after a couple of months, the "new" IP address is also blocked.
>
> My question is this.  What if it becomes common practice for commercial
> entities such as online stores to block all IP addresses that they find
> on lists of Tor relays such as <https://www.dan.me.uk/tornodes> or the
> official Tor metrics data?
> That list is updated every half hour, includes all nodes, and is not
> limited to exit nodes.  It currently lists 4438 nodes.  That is a
> manageable size for a blacklist, but it could represent tens or hundreds
> of thousands of clients.
>
> Wouldn't this eventually either cripple the Tor network or generally
> discourage Tor clients that can no longer buy products online from store
> XYZ through the Tor network?
>
> David C
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