Recent events with Layered Technologies lead me to thinking that I must start hunting around for a dedicated server hosting outside of the United States. They are effectively the hub of the Internet in terms of bandwidth availability which makes them the ideal and most cost-effective locale. Unfortunately the legal culture is so tied up in accountability and blame that it’s clearly not the best place for hosting a Tor server that generates a lot of abuse complaints.
Under this litigation culture, Layered Technologies are probably going to be a fair example of any hosting service provided from the US. This leaves me wondering where the best place really is. At one time Europe would have been the obvious choice but the recent handling of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons leads me to believe that the culture there is also unsuitable. Some people enjoy attacking services like Tor, and what more effective way than to use it as a gateway for religious attacks? I suspect that most European ISP’s will be highly sensitive to that at the moment. I need somewhere that is resilient to stupid abuse complaints and also understands and supports the goals of Tor. Does such a place exist? More to the point, can I afford to host a volunteer service there?
Hi Steve,
I, too, have been looking for server that could host a Tor service but have not found anything for a reasonable price. Have you located any servers?
Bye, S.
si_ss,
I’ve found comparable services to what I already have, but all of them have been in the US. Recently I haven’t received any complaints through Layered Tech and their service really is very good. I just worry about their policy of holding me accountable for anything my Tor server handles. All it will take is a malicious user to transmit child porn through it and I’d be shutdown in an instant.
The only provider who seems to really understand and support Tor is xs4all. I’d love to host my server with them but unfortunately it’s beyond my budget.