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Followup: Library Board Unanimously Supports TOR Relay
Wrath0fb0b writes: Last week, the administrators of the Kilton Public Library in New Hampshire suspended a project to host a Tor relay after the DHS sent them an email asking them to reconsider. At a board meeting yesterday, the exit node was reinstated by unanimous vote. Board member Francis Oscadal said, "With any freedom there is risk. It came to me that I could vote in favor of the good ... or I could vote against the bad. I’d rather vote for the good because there is value to this." Deputy Police Chief Philip Roberts said, "We simply came in as law enforcement and said, 'These are the concerns.' We wanted to inform everyone so it was an educated decision by everyone involved." Deputy City Manager Paula Maville added, "This is about making an informed decision. Whatever you need to do, we’re here to support that."
I'm sure the government will turn the screw somehow. A library that refuses to obey law enforcement, even if it's a casual request, is a liability. There's more than one way to skin a cat though. All they have to do is find a choke point in the financial pipeline and apply a little pressure. Few people have the budget to keep a library open if the government wants to starve it out of existence.
Want to fund it with donations? The government can apply pressure to Visa and Mastercard as well y'know. They did it with Wikileaks.
No request from law enforcement is ever a "suggestion". They don't work that way.