34

I was reading this guide on how to run a snowflake proxy, and I'm considering doing it.

https://snowflake.torproject.org/

I'm currently renting a small VPS for my self-hosted services, and I have some spare capacity. So I was wondering, are there any downsides that I might be overlooking?

My self-hosted services are on a URL with my real name. Could there be any privacy or legal implications for me? (I don't live under an authoritarian regime)

top 12 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] emhl@feddit.de 17 points 1 year ago

Snowflakes are used as entry nodes, not as exit nodes. So if your Vps provider doesn't forbid running tor services you should not face any downsides

[-] TheBig2023Meltdown@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Who actually hosts exit nodes considering the risk of doing so?

[-] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I did... Until the police knocked on my door. They said I was lucky because they decided to ask questions first, but they technically could have siezed every computer in my house without warning. I don't think you'd ever get convicted for something obviously done over tor, but having your stuff taken while they investigate is really inconvenient.

[-] mypasswordis1234@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

People who accept the fact that they will have to explain to the non-technical police that they are not the ones who did something bad and they're only the exit-node operators. And, of course, the three-letter agencies.

[-] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Not Sure Actually.

[-] mim@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago

Thanks! I'll check with my vps provider.

However, this proxy does not seem to be "within" the tor network itself, right? I'm just connecting someone to the first entry node on the system, correct?

Would I be transmitting unencrypted data? In other words, would an outsider be able to tell that I'm transmitting something illegal to a person accessing tor?

[-] emhl@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
  • The entry node doesn't know what data is being transmitted (or from where that data is) only who it's being transmitted to.
  • The middle nodes know nothing about the data and just know the previous and next hop.
  • The exit node knows what data is being accessed (if it's not being accessed via Https) but not who is accessing it

So in other words: no, you're not transmitting unencrypted data

[-] u202307011927@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

would an outsider be able to tell that I'm transmitting something illegal to a person accessing tor?

No, because if that was possible, law enforcement would set up quite some of those and catch some bad guys

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
34 points (97.2% liked)

Selfhosted

40183 readers
413 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS