Hacker strikes through student's router

[cyphrpunk]

On 11/10/05, Anthony DiPierro <or at inbox.org> wrote:
> Of course, that said, you should probably get permission from your ISP
> before you run a wifi hotspot.  And it's perfectly reasonable for a
> university to ban students from setting up free/open wifi hotspots.  And
> those who run open wifi hotspots probably have to deal with abuse complaints
> on a regular basis.
>
> One of the reasons companies go through all this is because they think
> (reasonably in most circumstances) that they can profit from it.  If only we
> could figure out how to really spread anonymous e-money.  Then we could
> really start spreading Tor.

What if we had a Tor network where exit node operators made Tor-money,
and Tor-money was necessary to use the network? Or perhaps, Tor-money
at least gave you priority in using the network, so all those P2P
traders wouldn't slow you down so much? Maybe exit node operators
could even sell their Tor-money for real cash, to potential Tor users.

People tend to have two contradictory views about proposals like this.
One is that such a Tor network would never work, because people would
prefer to use the free one. The other is that free Tor networks will
never work, because no one will take the heat to run an exit node.

The point is that this proposal cuts the knot and creates a
self-sustaining Tor-style network, one which rewards people who take
the risk of running exit nodes, just as in Anthony's example about
WiFi hotspots.

One technical problem is verifying that a particular exit node is
legit, so that its operator can get his Tor-bucks. It might be enough
to put Tor-money in the packet so that the last node receives it, but
then he could skim the cash without performing the service of letting
the packets go out. Still, this would be easily detected and users
could blacklist exit nodes which didn't perform, so it might be
adequate.

Obviously an ecash-integrated Tor network is an ambitious project, but
it is something to think about if Tor starts running into problems
with people not wanting to run exit nodes.

CP