Operators
Community Counsel
Exit Gateway

Community Counsel: Running Exit Gateway

This page is a part of Nym Community Counsel (before Legal Forum) and its content is composed by shared advices in Node Operators Legal Forum (opens in a new tab) (Matrix chat) as well as though pull requests done by the node operators directly to our repository (opens in a new tab), reviewed by Nym DevRels.

This document presents an initiative to further support Nym’s mission of allowing privacy for everyone everywhere. This would be achieved with the support of Nym node operators operating Gateways and opening these to any online service. Such setup needs a clear policy, one which will remain the same for all operators running Nym nodes. Nym exit policy (opens in a new tab) was inspired by (nowadays deprecated) Tor Null deny list and Tor reduced policy and created to meet the changes decided by Nym operators community through the governance (like in this vote (opens in a new tab)). This policy aims to find a healthy compromise between protecting the operators and NymVPN users against attacks while allowing for as wide experience when accessing the internet through Nym Network.

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The following part is for informational purposes only. Nym core team cannot provide comprehensive legal advice across all jurisdictions. Knowledge and experience with the legalities are being built up with the help of our counsel and with you, the community of Nym node operators. We encourage Nym node operators to join the Node Operator (opens in a new tab) and Operators Legal Forum (opens in a new tab) channels on Element to share best practices and experiences.

Summary

Nym supports privacy for everyone, everywhere.

To offer a better and more private everyday experience for its users, Nym would like them to use any online services they please, without limiting its access to a few messaging apps or crypto wallets.

To achieve this, operators running Exit Gateways would have to “open” their nodes to a wider range of online services, in a similar fashion to Tor exit relays following Nym exit policy (opens in a new tab).

  • Nym is committed to ensuring privacy for all users, regardless of their location and for the broadest possible range of online services. In order to achieve this aim, the Nym Mixnet needs to increase its usability across a broad range of apps and services.

  • To decentralise and enable privacy for a broader range of services, Nym transitioned from allow list to a deny list - creating a new Nym exit policy (opens in a new tab).

  • Future changes of the exit policy is done via an off-chain governance, like in this vote (opens in a new tab).

  • This will enhance the usage and appeal of Nym products for end users. As a result, increased usage will ultimately lead to higher revenues for Nym operators.

  • Nym core team cannot provide operators with definitive answers regarding the potential risks of operating open Gateways. However, there is online evidence of operating Tor exit relays:

    • From a technical perspective, Nym node operators may need to implement additional controls, such as dedicated hardware and IP usage, or setting up an HTML exit notice on port 80.
    • From an operational standpoint, node operators may be expected to actively manage their relationship with their ISP or VPS provider and respond to abuse requests using the proposed templates.
    • Legally, exit relays are typically considered "telecommunication networks" and are subject to intermediary liability protection. However, there may be exceptions, particularly in cases involving criminal law and copyright claims. Operators could seek advice from local privacy associations and may consider running nodes under an entity rather than as individuals.

  • This document serves as the basis for a consultation with Nym node operators on any concerns or additional support and information you need for this change to be successful and ensure maximum availability, usability and adoption.

Exit Gateways: New setup

In our previous technical setup, Network Requesters acted as a proxy, and only made requests that match an allow list. That was a default IP based list of allowed domains stored at Nym page in a centralised fashion possibly re-defined by any Network Requester operator.

This restricts the hosts that the NymConnect app can connect to and has the effect of selectively supporting messaging services (e.g. Telegram, Matrix) or crypto wallets (e.g. Electrum or Monero). Operators of Network Requesters can have confidence that the infrastructure they run only connects to a limited set of public internet hosts.

The principal change in the new configuration is to make this short allow list more permissive. Nym's exit policy (opens in a new tab) will restrict the hosts to which Nym Mixnet and Nym VPN users are permitted to connect. This will be done in an effort to protect the operators, as Gateways will act both as SOCKS5 Network Requesters, and exit nodes for IP traffic from Nym Mixnet VPN and VPN clients (both wrapped in the same app).

As of now the Gateways will be defaulted to a policy decided by Nym operators community through the governance (like in this vote (opens in a new tab)). This policy will remain the same for all the nodes, without any option to modify it by Nym node operators individually, to secure stable and reliable service for the end users.

The Exit Gateways will exhibit an HTML page (on port 80 and 443) resembling the one proposed documented here. By doing so, the operator will be able to disclose details regarding their Gateway, including the currently configured exit policy, all without the need for direct correspondence with regulatory or law enforcement agencies. It also makes the behavior of Exit Gateways transparent and even computable (a possible feature would be to offer a machine readable form of the notice in JSON or YAML).

We also recommend operators to check the technical advice from Tor (opens in a new tab).

Community Counsel & Legal environment of Nym Exit Gateway

The Node Operators Community Counsel pages are divided according jurisdictions. Nym Node operators are invited to add their legal findings or helpful suggestions directly through pull requests. This can be done as a new legal information (or entire new country) to the list of jurisdictions or in a form of an advice to Community counsel pages, like sharing examples of Exit Gateway landing pages, templates etcetra.

How to add content

Our aim is to establish a strong community network, sharing legal findings and other suggestions with each other. We would like to encourage all of the current and future operators to do research about the situation in the jurisdiction they operate in as well as solutions to any challenges when running an Exit Gateway and add those through a pull request (PR). Please check out the steps to make a pull request.

Tor legal advice

Giving the legal similarity between Nym Exit Gateways and Tor Exit Relays, it is helpful to have a look in Tor community Exit Guidelines (opens in a new tab). This chapter is an exert of tor page.

Note that Tor states:

This FAQ is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

Check legal advice prior to running an exit relay

Run an exit relay within an entity

As an organisation - it might help from a liability perspective

  • Within your university
  • With a node operators’ association (e.g., a Torservers.net partner)
  • Within a company

Be ready to respond to abuse complaints

Useful links:

Community CounselJurisdictions