Please run a bridge relay! (was Re: Tor 0.2.0.13-alpha is out)

[Roger Dingledine]

On Sat, Dec 22, 2007 at 04:19:09AM -0500, Roger Dingledine wrote:
> Tor 0.2.0.13-alpha adds a fourth v3 directory authority run by Geoff
> Goodell, fixes many more bugs, and adds a lot of infrastructure for
> upcoming features.

Hi folks,

One of the new features we've been working on is called "bridges". We
need some volunteers to run more of them.

Bridge relays (or "bridges" for short) are Tor relays that aren't listed
in the main directory. Since there is no complete public list of them,
even if an ISP is filtering connections to all the known Tor relays,
they probably won't be able to block all the bridges. From the operator's
perspective, unlike running an exit relay, running a bridge relay just
passes data to and from the Tor network, so it shouldn't expose the
operator to any abuse complaints.

First, install the latest development bundle from
https://www.torproject.org/download#Dev
There are two ways to set up a bridge. The easy way is to go into
Vidalia's Settings -> Relay window, and click "Help censored users
reach the Tor network". You might want to click on 'Bandwidth Limits'
too and set that to something smaller. Then click save.

The harder way is to edit your torrc file manually
https://wiki.torproject.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#torrc
and add the following lines:
  ORPort 443
  BridgeRelay 1
  PublishServerDescriptor bridge
  ExitPolicy reject *:*
  RelayBandwidthRate 50 KBytes

In either case, your next step is to mess with your Linksys router or
whatever you're using, and set up port forwarding so connections will
make it to port 443 of the computer running the bridge relay. Then check
your 'Message Log' window to see whether "Self-testing indicates your
ORPort is reachable from the outside", or "Your server has not managed
to confirm that its ORPort is reachable."

If you're interested, you can see a few bridges listed here:
https://bridges.torproject.org/
You only learn a small number of bridges from any single location, to
make it a bit harder for attackers to learn them all. We've still got a
big pile of items on the bridge todo list, but having more bridges for
testing is really useful for the next steps.

Plus there are people in the world who need them. :)

Thanks!
--Roger