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First Library To Support Anonymous Internet Browsing Halts Project After DHS Email

Posted by Soulskill on from the won't-somebody-think-of-the-children dept.

An anonymous reader writes with an update to the news we discussed in July that a small library in New Hampshire would be used as a Tor exit relay. Shortly after the project went live, the local police department received an email from the Department of Homeland Security. The police then met with city officials and discussed all the ways criminals could make use of the relay. They ultimately decided to suspend the project, pending a vote of the library board of trustees on Sept. 15. DHS spokesman Shawn Neudauer said the agent was simply providing "visibility/situational awareness," and did not have any direct contact with the Lebanon police or library. "The use of a Tor browser is not, in [or] of itself, illegal and there are legitimate purposes for its use," Neudauer said, "However, the protections that Tor offers can be attractive to criminal enterprises or actors and HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] will continue to pursue those individuals who seek to use the anonymizing technology to further their illicit activity." ...Deputy City Manager Paula Maville said that when she learned about Tor at the meeting with the police and the librarians, she was concerned about the service’s association with criminal activities such as pornography and drug trafficking. "That is a concern from a public relations perspective and we wanted to get those concerns on the table," she said.

4 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. But what about the books? by gurps_npc · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Do they let people read the books in the library without checking them out?

    Even the atomic physics books? Why, someone could learn how to make an ATOMIC BOMB from those.

    Do you want to be responsible for that? You better require everyone entering the Library to ask you for the book, so that we can track it.

    Also, some of those art books have necked ladies in them. Better give them all to me, so I can make them safe for everyone.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    1. Re:But what about the books? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I could relate the saga of an interview with the FBI in the late '60s after a friend and I tried to get books on infrared-viewing equipment at a public library. This was in the days of "starlight scopes" being used over in a little country in SE Asia. Rather an unpleasant experience.

  2. BREAKING: NH Highways Enable Police Evasion by CanEHdian · · Score: 3, Interesting

    New Hampshire (AP) - According to several reports and eye witness accounts, confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, New Hampshire roads and highways have been used by thieves in getaway vehicles to evade police efforts to apprehend them. Sources near the NH governors' office report a decree to close roads and highways are going to be closed to vehicular traffic indefinitely could be in effect as early as today. Story will be updated with further developments.

    --
    When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
  3. Re:Bullshit ... by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So far that's just on social media, so although it's gotten people fired, it doesn't quite look like Germany in the 30s yet.

    It's looking more like Germany in the '30s every day.

    http://www.slate.com/content/d...

    https://prod01-cdn06.cdn.first...

    https://markosun.files.wordpre...

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    You are welcome on my lawn.