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382

Man Found Guilty of Child Porn, Because He Ran a Tor Exit Node (The Story of William Weber) - LowEndBox (lowendbox.com)

submitted 1 year ago by trashhalo@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

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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.

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[–] Chozo@kbin.social 88 points 1 year ago (28 children)

He wasn't searching for it or knowingly distributing it. The way Tor exit nodes work is that you're hosting a machine that lets other people on the Tor network communicate with the internet. You're essentially routing a portion of the entire network's traffic through your machine. You can't really control who is using it or what it transmits at that point.

He got punished because somebody else shared CP, using his equipment to do so. It's like being jailed for having your car stolen and being used to hit a pedestrian.

[–] housepanther@lemmy.goblackcat.com 44 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Ah, okay. I probably should have read closer. I will delete my comment.

[–] Addv4@kbin.social 46 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Please don't, the misunderstanding is common, and it just reinforces the point of the rebuttal. I've seen sooo many anti CP laws trying to be forced through congress, but most of it is just bullshit surveillance or drm stuff but it gets the support from people like you who (understandably) hear about the propagation of CP and support stopping it via those laws.

[–] housepanther@lemmy.goblackcat.com 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Thank you!

[–] AWildMimicAppears@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

Thank you for being as mature as you are, so many people are not able to learn from their mistakes! be proud of yourself!

[–] DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago

You're a legend mate.

I find it infuriating when people refuse to be wrong at all costs, and just delete their comment when they are found to be indisputably wrong.

It's nice to see someone who can just acknowledge that they misunderstood, as do we all at times.

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