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Raided For Running a Tor Exit Node
An anonymous reader writes "A Tor Exit node owner is being prosecuted in Austria. As part of the prosecution, all of his electronics have been held by the authorities, including over 20 computers, his cell phone and hard disks. 'During interview with police later on Wednesday, Weber said there was a "more friendly environment" once investigators understood the Polish server that transmitted the illegal images was used by Tor participants rather than by Weber himself. But he said he still faces the possibility of serious criminal penalties and the possibility of a precedent that Tor operators can be held liable if he's convicted.' This brings up the question: What backup plan, if any, should the average nerd have for something like this?"
Cloud storage, and make the exit node a leech off your neighbors wifi.
Lots of money.
Look at Kim Dotcom.
If you're running Tor, or FreeNet, or anything else with the possibility of pissing off the man - be prepared for the concequences. The authorities repsonse here is pretty standard across the board.
Any Freenet nodes get raided? That's a good test for how secure the system is.
..don't panic
If a TOR exit node can be prosecuted for traffic passing through it, should the ISP and backbone router owners not also be held responsible for traffic passing through their nodes? If the ISP and network operators are not held responsible then neither should the TOR node owner.
"What backup plan, if any, should the average nerd have for something like this?"
Select a new exit node, duh.
You mean to tell me you guys don't have your cases rigged with thermite?
If you ship contraband via FedEx, is FedEx a criminal?
It's hard for the average nerd, you either have to be so small and invisible that you can take off at a moment's notice, or maintain shell corporations that own all the stuff that might get taken. If you own a house, or have a family that you care about, fugetaboutit.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
I've wondered, from day one, why anyone would be crazy enough to run a TOR exit node. Why would you willing serve as the front man for someone else's unknown but likely illegal activity? It's just crazy.
Running an exit node is just begging to get arrested for child porn. I'm positively amazed that it doesn't happen a LOT more often.
The problem is not the exit node, no information of any value contains there, and nothing that can incriminate you will be on the exit node.
The problem is the complete raid of everything of value you own and depend on that had no part in the exit node, no matter what is stored on the machines. Likely keeping them for months, even years depending on how far they want to go with the case.
c++;
What backup plan, if any, should the average nerd have for something like this?
1. Don't run an exit node
2. if 1 fails, fly to Belize and live blog my evasion of the local police
A mesh network isn't far away. Wireless APs are becoming redundant in homes so with a bit of community spirit and recycling you can establish a darknet like that. That community spirit is most easily found in hackerspaces and the Pirate Party, and since the latter type has the ability to support the former type you can get the message into people's homes without coming off as a lunatic fringe.
A lot of people don't understand why you want to build this and assume it's for child porn. I have learned that the appropriate response to crap isn't logic nor debate since it is just lazy rhetoric, but instead instant anger or suggesting 'that's what you'd use it for, isn't it'. Then assuming an air of accepting their apology you can move on with the issue. - As a partisan you should never for any reason permit discussion of child porn in what is a discussion about freedom online. Even throwing a tantrum is much more constructive.
So quit whining and start advocating!
All rites reversed 2010
You can tell them that... but they're not going to buy it. First off, ISPs operate under legally-established safe harbor provisions, which require them to do certain things. If you haven't also done those things, then you're not operating under the safe harbor provisions, and thus, the rules that apply to you aren't the same as those that apply to the ISPs. It's not simply a matter of not knowing what data goes through your network - there are other things you have to do, which include keeping certain types of records about your users... and TOR by design does not do that.
Second, prosecutors have leeway to choose which cases they will prosecute - so your "you must also prosecute" is simply not true, and the prosecution and judge both know this. So they'll simply ignore your speech, and instruct the jury to do so as well.
Now, whether these things are right is a separate question - but there are definite legal differences between an ISP and you, if you're operating a TOR node.
No, in both cases the pawn shop owner (or Tor node operator in this case) wasn't explicitly aware that their business (or Tor node) was being used to steal goods (or illegal online activity). The pawn shop owner (or Tor node operator) is likely aware that running a pawn shop (or Tor node) carries the risk that illegal goods (or illegal online activity) will be filtered through, though predictive knowledge itself is not a crime. Rather than seeking the assistance of the business owner (or Tor node operator) in tracking down the perpetrator, the authorities chose to instead implicate the business owner (or Tor node operator) directly for the illegal activities of the perpetrator who utilized the business owner's (or Tor node operator's) property to carry out those illegal activities.
See how that analogy works there? If they arrested all pawn shop owners who had facilitated the stealing of stolen goods without explicit knowledge then likely all pawn shop owners would be arrested.
Set it up so that if a certain encrypted file isn't updated manually at certain intervals, the entire system self-immolates.
Realistically, though, I've been thinking about building inconspicuous, low-power Tor exit servers that I can dead-drop in places with open wifi. That way, exits can be operated with a minimal threat of legal ramifications for anyone (plausible deniability on the part of the wifi provider).
To that end - anybody know where I can bulk order small form factor, inexpensive low-power computers that are battery pack/solar power friendly?
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese