[tor-relays] A Simple Web of Trust for Tor Relay Operator IDs

[Jonas]

---------- Original Message ----------
On Sat, October 9, 2021 at 7:10 AM,  Georg Koppen<gk at torproject.org> wrote:
Thanks for the proposal it provides good food for thought.

You are right there is the MR on Gitlab now but I don't think your
proposal is torspec material. Nor do I think a lot of relay operators
are watching the discussion there. However, as they are the ones who are
most affected by the proposal it's smart to find a better place for
discussing its ideas. Hence this thread on tor-relays at .

---response starts here---

As a bridge operator, I stopped the plan on running relays due to the identity requirements. I could easily run thousands of bsd-based (personal choice) across many ASes or cause many to appear through steep discounts at my employer. However, providing proof of identity or anything which ties to my real world identity is a non-starter. Prior conversations with The Tor Project Inc have been encouraging about running many relays and/or offer discounts to relay operators through my employer. 

I'm greatly concerned with proposals like this. I fully understand the concern over "malicious relays". What little I understand of the published literature, there are far more accurate, lower resource attacks against tor than running many modified relays. This proposal seems to come from a desire of power and control over the network, not actually improving "anonymity" for users. Dose this run into legal regulations in the EU and other places that will clearly demonstrate that "control" means the tor project is actively managing the network?

The secondary concern is the safety of that identity data collected by the tor project or its designated "authorities". It builds a network graph of relay operators and their ties to the tor project. This network graph makes it trivial to figure out whom to surveil and where to apply pressure to do actions to benefit "the state".

The controlled shutdown of v2 onions raised many eyebrows in our legal dept. It de facto states the tor project is controlling the network and operating as an online service provider or online platform.

These are my current concerns and thoughts. Feedback and pointers to more reading are welcomed.

Merci,

Jonas