[tor-relays] Parliamentary inquiry about legal status of running Tor in Austria

[Julien ROBIN]

Such political event about Tor is critical because a lot of countries could follow Austria about taking (the same ?) static and written position about Tor.

With a political and legal complete acknowledgement of Tor, their will be no possible interpretation about is it OK or not to be a Tor Relay operator or Tor user.
It can be so useful in front of ISP. And law agents also (sometimes complicated to show that what we do is fair and right, answering to their emails).

With a political denial it would be catastrophic : It could be prohibited to be a Tor Relay operator, or to be a Tor user, and their will be no possible interpretation.

Sometimes I imagine such a situation... as one of the last barrier crossing to the end of the free, open and real Internet, like it's being forbidden to exist without the proof of some representative's approval stuck on your back and checked everywere, with obligation of saying what you are doing, who do you want to see, and why... Can't help thinking that existence and freedom doesn't desserve anybody's approval !

Let's hope these people will consider Tor as a hope of preserving the Internet, even when freedom has drawback freedom is part of the meaning of our lives (especially on the Internet, network of exchanges and free expression).


----- Original mail -----
De: "MacLemon" <tor at maclemon.at>
À: tor-relays at lists.torproject.org, tor-talk at lists.torproject.org
Envoyé: Mercredi 9 Juillet 2014 15:42:39
Objet: [tor-relays] Parliamentary inquiry about legal status of running	Tor in Austria

Hoi!

This is a cross posting tor-talk/tor-relays (Due to the current attention on the recent events in Austria. Thanks for understanding.)

Niko Alm (of Austrian political party NEOS) has made an official parliamentary inquiry to the Austrian ministry of justice about the legal status of Tor.

Blog posting: http://alm.at/tor/ (in german language)
Inquiry: http://neos.eu/klub/20140708_AF-TOR-BMJ.pdf (in german language)

In theory running a relay/exit _should_ be covered by Austrian E-Commerce law §13. It's just not legally proven that Tor also falls under the definition of a “communications network” from a legal point of view. Technically everyone would certainly agree that this is the case.

>From what I understand the goal is to get an official statement by the Austrian ministry of justice that Tor falls under the legal definition of a communications network. Which would mean, that Relay-Ops are not liable for the traffic passing through their relays given they
	do not initiate the traffic by themselves
	do not select the recipient of the information
	do not select or alter the transmitted information
This includes caching.

Austrian E-Commerce law, §13 legal text (german language)
http://www.jusline.at/index.php?cpid=ba688068a8c8a95352ed951ddb88783e&lawid=116&paid=13

Best regards
MacLemon

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