Hacker News Reader

Comment by causi | Hacker News Reader

I very rarely use Tor because using Tor without being an exit node just slows it down for everyone else using it and running an exit node means CSAM passing through your router sooner or later which I find unacceptable. Most of my privacy needs are met by a commercial VPN.

View on HN

Here's a novel thought: take the money you give to the commercial VPN provider and donate it to Tor instead. They can spend it on running more exit nodes themselves, which fixes both the issues you say you have with it.

It would make up for it, but not fix it. The network would still be faster without my traffic. Plus, torrenting hundreds of gigabytes of data over Tor would be rather abusive.

In that case, donate them money and don't use it? I'm not sure how this private VPN you're using is any better - it too would be faster without your traffic. They spend your money on the same thing the Tor project could spend it on.

We agree it would be a very bad fit to use the torrent protocol over Tor, a seedbox would be better for your purposes.

The Tor Project is a non-profit and the Tor service is used not just by criminals but people under repressive regimes around the world, and there are no real alternatives to it. My VPN provider is a for-profit company and its users are free to choose another company.

a seedbox would be better for your purposes.

A seedbox would suit my torrenting needs but it doesn't fulfil the additional roles of bypassing video stream throttling on my mobile network or letting my overseas friends bypass network censorship.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com