Austrian Tor Exit Node Operator Fined

[GhostShip]

A surprisingly poor judgement that could in theory shut down the entire internet in Austria 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/04/austrian_tor_exit_relay_op_found_guitly_for_ferrying_child_p0rn/

An Austrian man has been found guilty after child sex abuse material transited his Tor exit relay.

IT administrator William Weber was charged in November last year after state police raided his home confiscating 20 computers, gaming consoles and devices after one of his seven global Tor exit relays funneled the illicit material. On 1 July, Weber was found guilty by a criminal court, given three years' probation and told he'll pay an expected €30,000 in court and legal costs.

The privacy advocate known as MacLemon claimed the ruling contradicted so-called 'Provider's privileges' safeguards that protect network operators from liability for traffic transiting their pipes. It could also clash with an EU directive safeguarding service providers as 'mere conduits' provided they did not modify data.

I think the way to ensure this is not repeated is for those using or operating Tor nodes to start a campaign of  reporting all the major search engines, browser companies and all ISP companies for doing the exact same thing as the guy above, whilst hes been a bit lax in discussing this matter and seen his own words thrown back as claimed proof that he was inciting unsavoury activity the facts of the matter are clear he had no control as to what passed over his relay and thus there cannot be any liability under the criminal law, he should appeal and represent himself if hes run out of cash.   

[GhostShip]

In another recent report it seems that those searching for TOR software or even looking for proxies are targeted by the NSA

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/03/nsa_xkeyscore_stasi_scandal/

Alleged leaked documents about the NSA's XKeyscore snooping software appear to show the paranoid agency is targeting Tor and Tails users, Linux Journal readers – and anyone else interested in online privacy.

The top-secret documents were apparently obtained and studied by members of the Tor project and security specialists for German broadcasters NDR and WDR. In their analysis of the divulged data, the team accuses the NSA of, among other things:

    * Specifically targeting Tor directory servers
    * Reading email contents for mentions of Tor bridges
    * Logging IP addresses of people who search for privacy-focused websites and software
    * And possibly breaking international law in doing so.

Its clear many international laws have been broken by the NSA and their associated organisations in other nations, all that is going to happen is that more web traffic is going to become dark to these intelligence agencies because everyone fears the abuse of their personal information, they will have no one to blame but themselves because they didn't stick cleanly to their mandate of chasing criminals.