How would you go about hosting a Tor node, without exposing yourself to problems like this? http://raided4tor.cryto.net/
I've thought about running an exit node, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my own safety and freedom to do it. The only solution seems to be buying hosting anonymously (bitcoins?), and making sure you only log in to the server over Tor.
I run an exit node in Egypt on a server from CityNet Host [1], that I got on a promo. Pumping 400 Gb/m through it for $2.50 a month. I would not host one at home but Egypt seems far enough.
I got my VPS on a promotion, so it really is $2.50 though it looks like you can't get the same deal anymore. http://lowendbox.com has plenty of these, including $15/year deals from BuyVM.
FWIW I think one is helping the Tor network even if they decide to only run an internal Tor node (not an exit). I believe Tor hidden services might become more popular in the months to come, and a lot of resources that the users were initially trying to access anonymously are / will be reachable as hidden services (e.g. wikileaks).
I've thought about running an exit node, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my own safety and freedom to do it. The only solution seems to be buying hosting anonymously (bitcoins?), and making sure you only log in to the server over Tor.