Tor relay

A Tor relay is a node in the Tor network that participates in routing anonymous traffic. There are three relay types. Guards are the entry points clients connect to (chosen for stability and not-too-recently-joined). Middle relays sit between guard and exit and are uncontroversial — they only see encrypted traffic between two other Tor relays. Exit relays connect Tor to the regular internet, generating most of the abuse complaints because exit IPs appear as the source of any Tor user's outbound traffic.

For offshore hosting customers running Tor relays, host policy matters. Most reputable hosts allow middle and bridge relays without restriction (they generate no abuse traffic). Exit relays require a 'reduced exit policy' (block known-abuse ports like SMTP) and ongoing coordination with the host's abuse team. SilentHosts allows all three relay types within its AUP framework.