[158568] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: William was raided for running a Tor exit node. Please help if
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brian Johnson)
Tue Dec 4 12:34:21 2012
From: Brian Johnson <bjohnson@drtel.com>
To: Jordan Michaels <jordan@viviotech.net>, "nanog@nanog.org" <nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2012 17:32:01 +0000
In-Reply-To: <50BD0133.6090509@viviotech.net>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
I know I'm going to get flamed and excoriated, but here goes....
<snip>
> case evolves in and out of court. Are Tor exit-node operators going to
> be given the same rights as ISP's who's networks are used for illegal
> purposes? I would hope so, but it doesn't seem like that has happened in
> this case, so I am very interested to hear how the situation pans out.
This is a misleading statement. ISP's (Common carriers) do not provide a kn=
owingly illegal offering, AND they do provide the PHYSICAL infrastructure f=
or packets to be passed and interconnected to other PHYSICAL networks. TOR =
exit/entrance nodes provide only the former. The lack of providing a physic=
al infrastructure is crucial. Also, most ISP's (US specifically) are requir=
ed by Law (under subpoena) to provide details to law enforcement.
I really hate this idea of privacy on the Internet. If you really think you=
have the "right" to use the public infrastructure (to whatever extent you =
want to label the Internet as such) and be completely anonymous, I have a b=
ridge to sell you. Network operators may treat your packets to whatever lev=
el of scrutiny that they may find necessary to determine if they want to pa=
ss your packets, keeping in mind that good operators want the Internet to w=
ork.
I'm waiting for the next hot "application" to use a widely known "bad" port=
and see what happens. :)
>=20
> It is extremely relevant to the Internet community and to free speech in
> general.
I'm actually in agreement that law enforcement may have overstepped here if=
the only reason was the TOR exit point, but having a TOR exit point to me,=
seems to be condoning the actions/statements/packets used through the exit=
point. You are knowingly hiding information that your local government may=
require you to disclose.
Short answer... don't use TOR. It's not a bad thing, but it's not a good th=
ing either.
- Brian
