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We, uh, absolutely expect the government to "harass" people operating transit systems for any and all information about a criminal using that system.

Camera feeds, ticket records... All of that is accessible via warrant. That's probably the most salient example in this context.




Tor exit nodes don't have any information to identify the end user. They don't know who it is, so there is nothing to subpoena or turn over. Subjecting low-resource entities to a known-futile legal process is a form of harassment.


Exactly: They intentionally built their transit system without cameras. Who benefits from that, except criminals? Oh yeah, sure: North Korean dissidents, Saudi LGBTQ people, etc, etc.

Yes, quite noble. But: How many of those are there using it, and how many criminals? It's mind-boggling how people so adamantly insist on seeing this only as black-and-white, and refuse to admit that there even exists something to weigh against each other.


It's not known-futile. A misconfigured Tor node could be storing all sorts of useful traffic data. Besides, there's also the possibility that the exit node operator themselves could be the actor; since the trail stops at them, they're under suspicion.




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