The combination of software allowing anonymous access to the Net, not too competent police officers and laws not quite 21st century ready can be a very dangerous combination. According this story, the operator of the Tor node was arrested by German police ...
I am quite curious how be would situation like this handled in Canada. First of all, would it happen ? Would the RCMP be more technically up to date than Deutsche Polizei ? What defines the responsibility of an operator of server, that moves encrypted content ? I am not crazy enough to try it out just to find out :-) - so no, I will not setup a TOR node (even if I do admire this cleverly designed piece of software).
Sometimes volunteering in a not-for-profit case may cost you a lot - as Alex Janssen found out the hard way:
I was arrested. They scared my wife. They confiscated all my equipment. They stopped the investigation. I’m sitting on a pile of bills from my lawyer no one except me has to pay. I’ll sue for compensation, but I don’t think that this will lead anywhere.
What happened to "innocent until proven guilty" ? Is there anything one can do to help stop traps like this ?
Actually, there is. Spread the word.