[tor-talk] Tor Exit Operator convicted in Austrian lower court

[C B]

I agree that collecting stories about "why/how I use Tor" is useful, but I disagree that any special education or warning should be needed before setting up an exit node. Setting up an exit node is simply providing another IP that can be used for traffic and nothing else. It is useful to provide warnings about protecting your own traffic, and protecting your own computer against attack from traffic to your exit node. For a while I was able to set up an exit node and run it for about 4 days at a time before Windows got clogged up and I needed to reboot to keep the computer from locking up. The only thing I had to do was change my IP address, as whatever IP address I was using for Tor gets tagged and blocked by many sites (unreasonably, but still done).

But then I started receiving immediate attacks that shut down the node. I am not sure if those were coming from my ISP or from outside, and I am not interested in notifying my ISP that I am operating an exit node - what I do with my Internet connection is my business, not theirs. I am not the least bit concerned of any legal issues associated with operating an exit node, because any concerns are blatantly unreasonable. Basically Tor, and https, are just necessary mechanisms for using the Internet, and nothing else. Boo hoo that no one can see what you are doing. That is just too bad. Everyone has the right to privacy. I list public key cryptography as the most important invention of the 20th century, because it allows privacy in the digital world. The same privacy that was obtained centuries earlier by sealing a letter with hot wax and a monogram seal.
 
--
Christopher Booth


________________________________
 From: Joe Btfsplk <joebtfsplk at gmx.com>
To: tor-talk at lists.torproject.org 
Sent: Thursday, July 3, 2014 1:14 PM
Subject: Re: [tor-talk] Tor Exit Operator convicted in Austrian lower court
 


On 7/3/2014 10:34 AM, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> Agreed, great news.
>
> In hindsight, it is clear that we as a community have an interest to
> build a resource of amicus curiae briefs - friend of the court briefs.
> So PLEASE make moves in the direction of contributing and collecting
> documents which may be relevant to future cases - at the least a
> simple collection of legal docs.
>
Definitely!  /"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."/ - Ben 
Franklin.

Perhaps out of fear of legal liability, Tor Project doesn't seem to have 
what would be very helpful for relay operators - guides, documents - 
even access to basic legal advice,  of how to best avoid legal issues to 
begin with.

I know nothing of legalities surrounding that, but people starting a 
relay w/o proper guidance on how to avoid legal problems as much as 
possible, *doesn't quite seem right.*

In a worst case scenario, running relays can be truly *life 
destroying.*  It seems volunteers need better preparation & education 
about potential ramifications.  If after being educated, they still 
choose to run relays (especially exit), that's fine.

However, it would seem wrong to not make reasonably complete education 
materials available to potential relay operators, to prepare them & warn 
them of potential downside.
Without relay operators, there won't be much left (unless independent 
volunteers no longer handle that function).

Accused persons dealing w/ problems like this after the fact, is far, 
far worse than even an extraordinary amount of time spent on preventing 
/ avoiding them.
If LEAs / judicial system actively investigates someone (throwing around 
terms like child porn), or indicts a person, the mental stress alone is 
enough to ruin one's life.  That is no exaggeration.

If you've never been falsely accused of something & had to defend 
yourself - even before it goes to trial (or never does), the stress is 
incredible.



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