[tor-relays] Interrogated by Finnish police for alleged idendity crimes, fraud and attempts of fraud

[I]

An excellent approach

> -----Original Message-----
> From: julien.robin28 at free.fr
> Sent: Mon, 31 Oct 2016 23:16:53 +0100
> To: tor-relays at lists.torproject.org
> Subject: Re: [tor-relays] Interrogated by Finnish police for alleged
> idendity crimes, fraud and attempts of fraud
> 
> Hi,
> 
> With the 3 big exit nodes I had in France (about 30MB/s in both
> direction for each of them), I got called by police a lot of time (may
> be 10 times approximately ? I do not really count anymore) on
> investigations about misdeed that was committed from IP addresses of my
> Tor relays (95.130.9.190 and 95.130.9.89 mainly, at Digicube, not
> running anymore since June, 2015). No call about the Online.net one
> (62.210.206.25, now Relay only since January, 2015), which was as big as
> the 2 others and Exit too, but the ISP is well known as servers and
> website big provider in France so I guess they realize it's an exit node
> before calling me. The "facts" were also, most of the time, fraud and
> attempts of fraud but also slander one time.
> 
> I was most of the time called as suspect because IP are related to my
> name (because I was leasing those servers), as for a home connection in
> their point of view (not aware that those IP are dedicated servers IP).
> Then I simply explain this in appropriate terms. After some times,
> depending on the agent, for new investigations I'm sometimes "heard" as
> witness. And most of the time the meeting is fine.
> 
> Each time, I explain that my servers are rented in my name, and that I
> use them for volunteer participation to a free proxies and VPN network
> called Tor. I then give some details and explanations about what is Tor,
> who created it, what are the goals of the project (about protection of
> expression in bad countries and censorship avoidance, by accessing the
> same Internet that others do, pricacy protection too), and yes, the
> misuses... and that these are discouraging misuse and it is not the
> reason why we participate in this network (far from it !). Then I give
> the IP of those servers (and one of them is the reason why they called
> me). And I explain that they are computers with a very fast bandwidth,
> located in datacenters (Rennes, Vitry...) that can be accessed and
> configured remotely, like a remote desktop.
> 
> When they ask the question about logs and how to find the author of the
> fact, my answer is that (unfortunately in that case), Tor is designed as
> it's not possible for anybody to find who is the IP address from where
> the traffic originated. It's very secure for those who need to use it.
> Of course I tell them that if they have suspects in the entourage of the
> victim, they can check if one of them was connected to the Tor network
> at the time of the "fact" but as me and others people are using Tor for
> online privacy without any intention of misuse against anybody, using
> Tor is not a proof of misuse and is most of the time not done for bad
> intention. Of course some questioning about a suspect using Tor at the
> same hour would be rightful in this particular situation, anyway (like I
> was questioned).
> 
> All time I also come with a sheet of paper explaining Tor a little bit
> deeply, what are the motivation of the teams and people behind this
> project, (even in front of misuses that we are, of course, not proud of
> having on the Tor network, even if without the Tor network, those
> misuses would have been done by another way). In France I
> 
> Of course sometimes the agent is not very happy about the Tor Network as
> the investigations is likely to fail because of the Tor Network
> efficiency. When the misuse is real and obviously bad, nobody can be
> happy of it !
> 
> In all those cases, my words are honest and true; as we shouldn't be
> ashamed of participating to projects aiming to a better word and more
> freedom, but shouldn't be happy of misuses, my personal preference is to
> be understanding and true. I also tell them that I'm participating, with
> my computers, to others scientific projects like World Community Grid
> (explaining it's about cancer research and a lot of others subjects) :
> It can be seen as "not related" but it is, as that's the way we are
> volunteers to the Tor Network !
> 
> 
> Here's for my feedback ! It's very personal of course, I hope nobody
> would copy it without feeling it :) I'm just expressing my own feeling
> on those situations, if it can help everybody to better understand those
> cases.
> 
> Best regards !
> 
> Julien ROBIN
> 
> 
> On 31/10/2016 14:25, Juuso Lapinlampi wrote:
>> Putting the word out: I was interrogated by the Finnish police today for
>> multiple alleged counts (15+) of identity crimes, fraud and attempts of
>> fraud. The invitation letter to be interrogated was sent out on
>> 2016-10-21 and received by me on 2016-10-25. Today is 2016-10-31.
>> 
>> The police suspects me because of an "IP-address assigned to my name",
>> which I can't confirm or deny to have a relation to me. As a suspect, I
>> was not told what this aclaimed IP-address was on a specific date to my
>> knowledge. It is only speculation if these allegations wrongly against
>> me have something to do with my relation with the Tor community or
>> activism about digital rights online.
>> 
>> Pending ongoing investigation, I am not allowed by law to share more
>> specific details about to the investigation. I'd be glad to reveal more
>> details about the case once the investigation is over and share/hear how
>> I became a suspect, once I know about it. (Note that my story is at
>> least slightly opinionated.)
>> 
>> I had a witness with me and I feel like my rights were being violated
>> during the interrogation. The officer (not to be named publicly in
>> respect for privacy) didn't want to allow me to write down their badge
>> number by taking the badge away from me while trying to write down the
>> numbers. The officer looked slightly anxious.
>> 
>> After refusing to comment on few questions (to which I have a legal
>> right as a suspect), soon after me and my belongings with me were
>> searched for aclaimed "security reasons" and "making sure I'm not
>> recording this interrogation (with a phone)". I'll let you decide on the
>> implications on unwarranted searches and individual legal protection.
>> (See supreme court decision KKO:1990:36.)
>> 
>> I audibly and multiple times in calm manner protested to not consent to
>> searches, but alas it happened against my will without being suspected
>> of wrongdoing at the police station in front of my witness. I didn't
>> physically resist but also didn't voluntarily help the officer.
>> 
>> The officer asked me inappropriate questions which were not related to
>> the investigation. I was asked about my previous involvement with the
>> police, how much I knew about the law and unsolicited advice about how
>> "it will be easier for me if I talked". I demanded the officer to write
>> down every question since the beginning of interrogation to the
>> interrogation minutes, including the inappropriate ones, but the officer
>> refused, trying to make up a fake reason how they were "irrelevant".
>> 
>> The officer raised their voice once or twice during the 45 minutes of
>> interrogation, apparently angry that I would not "make a confession" or
>> "help out and tell more" to prove innocence. Confronting the officer
>> again with a simple question "am I a suspect or a witness" to confirm my
>> position, I was confirmed again that I was a suspect in the case. Subtly
>> reminding that "I have my rights" that should be respected, the officer
>> replied among the lines of "I have my rights too" with disrespect.
>> 
>> After the interrogation minutes did not rightfully represent what was
>> actually questioned, the only sensible thing to me was to not sign the
>> minutes. The officer after the officer made threatening claims about how
>> I "would be going to court" over this, but didn't spend too much effort
>> on trying to get my signature.
>> 
>> Once the interrogation was concluded, the officer made an unsolicited
>> comment of "gladly not seeing people like [me] often". I told that I
>> would be in contact with my lawyers.
>> 
>> I am glad that I was not detained in a cell or arrested, which in my
>> opinion I can likely attribute to having a witness with me. Looking back
>> at what just happened at the police station, I should have demanded a
>> lawyer immediately to the interrogation after having my rights violated,
>> but I'm relying on my witness for now to make a testimony if necessary.
>> 
>> I repeat that I absolutely deny being guilty of any suspected crimes. Be
>> safe out there, tor-relays@ and all. (I have legal support behind me and
>> have never been particularly worried about the investigation or outcome
>> of this case.)
>> 
>> Proof of invitation letter:
>> https://wubthecaptain.eu/files/legal/2016-10-21-alleged-fraud-identity-crime.jpg
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> 
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