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Comment by iamtherockstar | Hacker News Reader

I have friend here is the US with loads of bandwidth (he has a hosting business) and has talked about running a tor exit node, but fears that he puts his business at risk if he does that.

I'm interested to see why you don't think he'd be breaking any laws.

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If he owns the equipment and runs the service, he could put his business at risk, yeah.

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.

The Software Freedom Law Center has stated that in their legal opinion it is legal, however this does not mean that you won't get raided or harassed by law enforcement, it simply means you probably won't go to jail.

>> it simply means you probably won't go to jail.

...for a super long time. My bet (admittedly founded on nothing) is that they book you regardless.

it simply means you probably won't go to jail.

Well, not go to prison. You go to jail while you're presumed innocent, right?

What I would be worried about, especially in the US, would be the FBI joining the Tor network, blasting around CP and then arresting some random person to make an example of them. Given that we presently have laws and executive orders being enforced that seem to contradict the constitution, etc., I don't have a lot of confidence in what a lawyer thinks might happen if this went to trial. Once it's a hot button issue, everything pretty much goes out the window.

Your friend is smart.

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.

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