Without knowing and understanding Austrian law you can't make such speculations. In the USA he wouldn't be breaking any laws.
This doesn't say anything. I can "believe" anything that I want, but it doesn't make it so. I'm looking for articles with sound legal rationale and previous case outcomes that argue on the legality of a defendant's culpability as it pertains to a crime being committed on said defendant's Tor exit node.
That's why we have to go on the beliefs of lawyers familiar with the area, instead. You could read about things like the Safe Harbor provisions of the DMCA to see why Internet service providers are generally not considered responsible for their users' actions, in the U.S.
I don't know why you'd think it wouldn't be protected just like an ISP from users who view kiddie porn or FedEx for shipping drugs. So long as you cooperate when the law comes knocking you should be fine.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_L...
I'm interested to see why you don't think he'd be breaking any laws.
If he leases the hardware to a third individual and that third person/organization runs an exit node, then he is at a safe harbor.
I have experience running Tor nodes and can help if he is interested.
...for a super long time. My bet (admittedly founded on nothing) is that they book you regardless.
Well, not go to prison. You go to jail while you're presumed innocent, right?
If you want to run a tor exit node, create a new corporate entity for only that purpose, put it in its own cabinet, and put your lawyer on the corp documents.
If you can't do these things, just run a relay and be done with it - an exit node is not for you.