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Not really. The mailman is operating on behalf of the government with specific policies and laws associated with it.

Tor is more like you operating as a volunteer delivery guy who is willing to pick up a locked box anywhere in the city for free and drop it off anywhere else that is requested. You have no idea what's in the box nor who you are picking it up from or dropping it off to.

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Right--a common-carrier delivery service, like UPS, DHL, or FedEx, only they cannot snoop into the clients' private business, and clients are by design anonymous.

Yeah, but if they are aware of the "type-of-content-that-may-be-in-the-box" can be illegal or inappropriate. It's still their fault to deliver.

This doesn't stop police from raiding them.

Common-carrier delivery service, like UPS, DHL, or FedEx are "aware of the "`type-of-content-that-may-be-in-the-box'." They are not held responsible for the actions of their clients of which they are unaware. The same holds true for telephone companies, Internet backbone providers, Internet service providers, and more. The same should hold true of Tor exit node operators.

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