How useful is it to actually run a tor node, if the NSA can just monitor it or outright hack into it? I do not want to spend hundreds of currency to pay for the privilege of indirectly working for the NSA.
And is it safe to run a node as a vps? How do I prevent the owner of the servers from hacking in or somehow monitoring it? I know that the tor project recommends that exit nodes are not run from your home.
Also, is it safe to run tor nodes with systemd distros? systemd has a large attack surface, and security vulnerabilities have been found in it. Would it be better to run a node in a devuan server, rather than a debian server?
While details from Snowden and other whistleblowers have shed some light, it’s not clear what the NSA can or cannot do. Anyone claiming otherwise might be misleading others. Nevertheless, using Tor is still better than not using it at all.
You’re not required to run relays to use Tor.
Correct, you shouldn’t run Tor exit nodes from your home.
Operating System diversity is very important for the Tor network, however being a good system administrator is crucial. Running a Tor relay on an operating system you’re unfamiliar with may lead to poor security decisions. FWIW, Tor can also be run on non-Linux systems like *BSD.