William Weber, a LowEndTalk member, was raided by Austrian police in 2012 for operating a Tor exit node that was allegedly used to distribute child pornography. While he was not arrested, many of his computers and devices were confiscated. He was later found guilty of supporting the distribution of child pornography through his Tor exit node, though he claims it was unintentional and he was simply supporting free speech and anonymity. He was given a 5 year probation sentence but left Austria shortly after. Though some articles portray him negatively, it is debatable whether he intentionally supported child pornography distribution or simply operated in the legal grey area of Tor exit nodes.
It’s been working fine for 20+ years already, with consequences foreseen from the beginning:
- Don’t trust exit nodes, they get the final packets and can do with them whatever they want.
- If you put identifying data in an unencrypted packet, the exit node will know who you are.
- If you send identifying data (encrypted or not) to a website, the website will know who you are.
- Trust destination websites only barely more than you’d trust them normally, and only as long as you keep the NoScript enabled.
- If your entry node colludes with your exit node, they might analyze data traffic patterns to try and identify you.
If you want to hide your porn habits from your techie flatmate with a logging router, Tor works great. If you’re a CIA agent in Iran wanting to send some report back home without getting found out, Tor works great. If you’re a whistleblower wanting to send an anonymous tip to the Washington Post, Tor also works great. If you’re curious to see that foreign mercenary group’s website that’s blocked in your country… SWIM had to try some different circuits, but Tor also worked there.
