Hi,
On Apr 20, 2008, at 1:32 PM, Alexander Bernauer wrote:
[snip]
The basic idea is to develop a browser plugin which while active turns
the computer into both an Tor client and a Tor exit node. The target
group is a Windows XP or Vista user with almost no technical skills
but
fear of pop-ups asking strange things. We are experienced in providing
and promoting security software to them [2] and we beliefe that this
solution will be accepted and widely used.
I don't think a browser plugin is a good choice for an application
that can act as a Tor exit node. Please note how long it takes for a
Tor node to be used by clients, and how often Users close their
browsers. I think this will produce a huge amount of overhead when
such nodes are sending their descriptors and others will try to use
them a few hours later, when they have been shut down again.
There is another reason why I think a browser plugin is ill suited: In
my opinion, users want browser plugins for a specific purpose, for
example play a movie or block Flash. They don't want a plugin that
does arbitrary things they don't quite understand.
If you find a good solution for how to make use of Tor relays behind
restrictive firewalls, that'd be most awesome, but I think such an
approach should be included in the Tor software.
Note that currently, any relay must be able to connect to any other
relay.
Sebastian