>> I got to a point where I want to make an active contribution to the >> Tor cause starting with running some nodes of my own, but I'm having >> difficulties on finding hosting companies (vps/dedicated) that allow >> running Tor services. >> >> I know that you've been resuming your servers in the Netherlands >> Would like to hear what's your experience with that. > > There is not much advice I can give you. I do not want to recommend any > of our ISPs, not because we're not happy with them (to the contrary), > but because it makes no sense to put more and more Tor exits into few > places. My strategy always is to find appropriate offers (cheap high > bandwidth) and then contact the ISP. This has evolved into a pretty > standardized two-step approach: First, I ask if they were okay "with > Tor" and reassigning IP space, and telling them that we're security > researchers and that we have worked with many ISPs successfully in the > past. Because the reassignment is somewhat of a special case, this > usually helps in reaching someone higher up in the support chain who can > make such decisions. Once they get back to me, I explain Tor a little > more and only then tell them about the caveats, but reassure them that > we have a volunteer team handling abuse around the clock etc. > > Depending on what you're able and willing to spend, a good approach > would be to look for data centers, and ask there for potential partners. > I wrote a small script that puts the GeoIP location of Tor nodes on a > map, which is somewhat helpful in finding "empty spots". A good idea > would be a script that extracts ASNs, sums up "their" Tor bandwidth, and > then not go with those that already have a high bandwidth exit, but > maybe some other AS in the same datacenters? Yes! Far better to look for new diverse holes and fill them than to essentially duplicate existing nodes. Bringing in tor-relays on this, as this topic comes up there once in a while too. I'll add that AS path info is available from route views looking glasses. Think of it like traceroute, but for BGP. It's quite handy. A node map showing current GEO, AS, and provider would be a cool idea. Lots of cities have datacenters and moms/pops of some sort. People could then find a gap near them, then poke around the phonebook, webhostingtalk, datacentertalk, [NA]NOG's, etc to find a diverse fill.