this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Man Found Guilty of Child Porn, Because He Ran a Tor Exit Node (The Story of William Weber) - LowEndBox (lowendbox.com)
submitted 1 year ago by trashhalo@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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William Weber, a LowEndTalk member, was raided by Austrian police in 2012 for operating a Tor exit node that was allegedly used to distribute child pornography. While he was not arrested, many of his computers and devices were confiscated. He was later found guilty of supporting the distribution of child pornography through his Tor exit node, though he claims it was unintentional and he was simply supporting free speech and anonymity. He was given a 5 year probation sentence but left Austria shortly after. Though some articles portray him negatively, it is debatable whether he intentionally supported child pornography distribution or simply operated in the legal grey area of Tor exit nodes.

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[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yep given this is Austrian jurisprudence they should be able to apply Radbruch. Could it be overturned on appeal? Sure, but the judge also wouldn't look stupid on appeal. German courts are using it in instances like conjuring a Romeo+Juliet exception out of thin air (in the "sex on your 14th birthday with your SO who is still 13" kind of sense), directly contradicting written law, saying "yep they overlooked that corner case". Law didn't even get updated as application of the formula is so uncontroversial.

In particular, this letter-of-law interpretation ignores equality before the law -- that between natural and juridical persons. You need a proper reason to do such a thing. Quoth Radbruch:

Where there is not even an attempt at justice, where equality, which forms the core of justice, is deliberately betrayed in the laying down of positive law, then the statute is not even merely 'flawed law'—rather, it lacks completely the very nature of law. For law, including positive law, cannot be otherwise defined than as a system and an institution whose very meaning is to serve justice.