On Wednesday 02 January 2013 14:56:59 Moritz Bartl wrote:
There is a fundamental legal difference between operating Internet Access Providers and Internet Service Providers. As a Tor exit, you should and want to be judged as a service provider. The key difference is that Access Providers give you Internet access, whereas Service Providers (Telemediendienste, "tele media services") give you services which require (existing) network access.
Access Providers are bound to the Telekommunikationsgesetz: http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tkg_2004/
Reading the law it is still unclear to me if a Tor node operator is a "Diensteanbieter" (service provider) as defined by the Telekommunikationsgesetz. If yes the law is pretty clear in § 6 that such a service has to be registered at the Bundesnetzagentur if it is done commercially.
Whereas service providers are bound to the Telemediengesetz: http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/tmg/
Most interesting for exit operators within German borders are: §8 - no liability for forwarded content (compare §512a DMCA USA) §15 - you are not allowed to collect or store user identifying data unless required for billing purposes
These paragraphs surely help Tor operators.
Thanks for your comments.
Torland