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Austrian Tor Exit Node Operator Found Guilty As an Accomplice

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from TechDirt: Three years ago we wrote about how Austrian police had seized computers from someone running a Tor exit node. This kind of thing happens from time to time, but it appears that folks in Austria have taken it up a notch by... effectively now making it illegal to run a Tor exit node. According to the report, which was confirmed by the accused, the court found that running the node violated 12 of the Austrian penal code, which effectively says:"Not only the immediate perpetrator commits a criminal action, but also anyone who appoints someone to carry it out, or anyone who otherwise contributes to the completion of said criminal action." In other words, it's a form of accomplice liability for criminality. It's pretty standard to name criminal accomplices liable for "aiding and abetting" the activities of others, but it's a massive and incredibly dangerous stretch to argue that merely running a Tor exit node makes you an accomplice that "contributes to the completion" of a crime. Under this sort of thinking, Volkswagen would be liable if someone drove a VW as the getaway car in a bank robbery. It's a very, very broad interpretation of accomplice liability, in a situation where it clearly does not make sense.

4 of 255 comments (clear)

  1. Parents are all guilty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    for giving birth to evil people. Arrest them all!

    1. Re:Parents are all guilty by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Funny

      for giving birth to evil people. Arrest them all!

      To be fair, the birth of each child comes with an 18 year + sentence, often with a similar sentence for the accomplice.

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  2. Re:Traffic laundering will soon become a crime by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not until we get IPv6, which will tattooed on your arm.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  3. Re:Wonderful car analogy! by rotorbudd · · Score: 4, Funny

    What? Read the article?
    This IS slashdot right?

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    A bullet may have your name on it, but artillery is addressed to " Whom It May concern"