German Police Raided a Tor Exit Node Operator

~2 min read | Published on 2022-09-21, tagged Tor using 446 words.

According to a message on the tor-relays mailing list, a Tor exit node operator in Germany was raided by the police.
Volker wrote that law enforcement officers raided him because “some Nazis used TOR to send nazi-emails to several schools in Germany.” Authorities accused him of Volksverhetzung, which is “incitement to hatred” (which in Germany means “insulting… segments of the population”).


The operator was a marijuana smoker (illegal) so he is now potentially in trouble for possessing marijuana.<div class="highlight"><pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code class="language-fallback" data-lang="fallback"><span class="line"><span class="cl">Hi folks.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">On Tuesday morning police knocked on my door, performing a full house search.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">Some Nazis used TOR to send nazi-emails to several schools in Germany.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">Unfortunately their mails left one of my Exit Servers from dark- to</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">clearweb, so an ip address, registered on my name, was the last stamp.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">Now im accused of Volksverhetzung (german, try to find a good translation).</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">It means spreading bad nazi bullshit to the internet.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl"></span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">I can take this down by showing them German Telemediengesetz §8, which</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">protects TOR operators in Germany.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">Unfortunately they found some dope (yea, 420guy here) during the house</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">search, which makes thing even more complicated.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl"></span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">Now I am considering shutting down all my exits.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">I promise you guys, there is nothing more bad than a police house search in</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">the early morning hourse. Even a burglary would be less worse. Burglars</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">come, steal, go and you never hear again from them.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">Police comes, searches through all your belongings, destroys your privacy,</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">is allowed to take ALL what they want - and they will send you bad bad</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">letters afterwards.</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl"></span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">What are your thoughts about this?</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl"></span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">Best regards,</span></span><span class="line"><span class="cl">volker</span></span></code>
inb4 some American makes a free speech joke as if you can say something offensive in the United States using your real name without losing your job and having your bank accounts closed. And why are you emailing schools? Trying to get out of class?

tor-relays knock knock, police is here | lists.torproject.org, archive.is, archive.org

This will only turn into a Tor-related case, in my opinion, if German authorities decide to pursue the operator for the activity coming from his exit nodes.
This part is obviously true, lol:
I promise you guys, there is nothing more bad than a police house search in<br>the early morning hourse. Even a burglary would be less worse. Burglars<br>come, steal, go and you never hear again from them.<br>Police comes, searches through all your belongings, destroys your privacy,<br>is allowed to take ALL what they want - and they will send you bad bad letters afterwards