How would this be legally different than receiving the illegal content in an envelope and anonymously forwarding the envelope via the post office? I am pretty sure you are still liable since you were the sender. I realize that there are special postal regulations but I think that agreeing to forward anything for anyone sight unseen is pretty risky and I think you will have a hard time pulling of the "service provider" defense if you are not selling services and are not licensed as a carrier.
Steven Naslund -----Original Message----- From: Patrick W. Gilmore [mailto:patr...@ianai.net] Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 10:45 AM To: NANOG list Subject: Re: William was raided for running a Tor exit node. Please help if you can. On Nov 29, 2012, at 11:17 , Barry Shein <b...@world.std.com> wrote: > Back in the early days of the public internet we didn't require any > id to create an account, just that you found a way to pay us. We had > anonymous accts some of whom dropped by personally to pay their bill, > some said hello but I usually didn't know their names and that's how > they wanted it, I'd answer "hello <ACCOUNT>", whatever their login was > if I recognized them. Some mailed in something, a mail order, even > currency tho that was rare but it did happen, or had someone else drop > by to pay in cash (that is, no idea if they were local.) > > LEO occasionally served a warrant for information, usually child porn > biz (more than just accessing child porn, selling it) tho I don't > remember any anonymous accts being involved. "Mere conduit" defense. (Please do not anyone mention "common carrier status" or the like, ISPs are _not_ common carriers.) > I never expected to be held accountable for anyone's behavior unless I > was knowingly involved somehow (just the usual caveat.) LEO never > showed any particular interest in the fact that we were ok with > anonymous accounts. If I was made aware of illegal activities we'd > shut them off, didn't really happen much, maybe some credible > "hacking" complaint on occasion. How do you "shut off" a Tor "account"? > It's funny, it's all illusion like show business. It's not hard to set > up anonymous service, crap, just drop in at any wi-fi hotspot, many > just ask you to click that you accept their T&Cs and you're on. Would > they raid them, I was just using one at a major hospital this week > that was just like that, if someone used that for child porn etc? But > I guess stick your nose out and say you're specifically offering anon > accts and watch out I guess. Do you think if the police found out child pr0n was being served from a starbux they wouldn't confiscate the equipment from that store? -- TTFN, patrick
