US librarians defy cops, Feds – and switch on their Tor exit node The first library in the US to host a Tor exit node has voted to turn it back on despite warnings by the cops that it could lead to criminal behavior. A meeting late Tuesday of the board of trustees of the Kilton Public Library in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, saw it stand by its unanimous decision to embrace the anonymizing …
As an Iowan, I'd like to apologize for our nuts on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately primaries/caucuses tend to bring out the most dedicated people, who also tend to be the most polarized. So we will reliably select one of the most conservative republicans and one of the most liberal democrats, and leave it up to the states that follow to have their voters figure out "what a minute, maybe this guy is so extreme he's unelectable in a general election" or decide to roll the dice and go with him.
Don't blame us for Trump though, he was big nationally before he took off in Iowa. Instead of "who is the most conservative" this year republicans seem to be choosing based on "who is the least tainted by previous political experience". Considering that Scott Walker was leading Iowa a few months ago, Trump can hardly be considered worse. Who knows, maybe a billionaire who can't be bought (or so we hope) is better than the same shrubs we keep getting every 4-8 years who are hard to tell apart despite their supposed differences in party affiliation. At least he's making the election entertaining.
RE: "I really don't understand your Presidential Election system at all... :-S"
I've lived in the USA for nearly 13 years now and I'm still no wiser. I asked my American wife to explain it and she hasn't a clue either. I suspect its like that radio game "Mornington Crescent" and no one knows WTF is going on, not even those taking part. They just do what the lizards tell them to do, read from the scripts, and hope they Get the job / Win the game / Don't get eaten.
I really don't understand your Presidential Election system at all... :-S
I do -- and sometimes wish I didn't.
It's fairly easy to explain how all the individual pieces work (though the explanations
differ from state to state). Just don't expect the "big picture" to make much sense when you put all the pieces together. There is no big picture. It's just pieces.
"it got a visit from the cops, tipped off by Homeland Security, which warned library and city officials that the service could be used for criminal activity"
The postal service, telegrams, email and the Internet can all be used for criminal activity as well. The difference is the government monitors those things already. They just hate what they can't read.
Librarians have proven themselves to be a remarkably resilient and ornery bunch, pushing back against anyone who pushes them. The Arnold Schwarzeneggers of the white-collar world, if you will. With much better English skills, of course.
No kidding, this stuff makes my heart flutter a bit every time I see it happen.
They are making powerful enemies, though.
No, they're merely annoying the enemies they already had.
And those enemies have other fish to fry. While the folks in charge of this decision have my admiration for standing up to typical police-state fear-mongering, the reality is that DHS is just sniping at what they hope are easy targets, and the West Lebanon PD don't have the resources (material or political) to tighten the screws.
If some dimwits with enough time on their hands get hold of this and decide to raise a stink, they might be able to put pressure on the library's public funding. But that would be local, non-official action. That's what public libraries in the US typically have to worry about - interference by the community book-burning idiots.
But don't most Librarians only have a place to work because Andrew Carnegie felt guilty about all the lives he ruined and his foundation built most of them in the US? After all we couldn't waste good public money on anything educational for adults. Those F35 (and many war machines before) won't build themselves.
don't most Librarians only have a place to work because Andrew Carnegie blah blah blah?
No. Carnegie paid to build fewer than 1700 libraries in the US. There are a couple of orders of magnitude more libraries currently in the country. And the Carnegie money had to, y'know, be supplanted by public and private funds to keep those libraries open for the past century. But thanks for playing.
Carnegie libraries were important, sure, but they don't come close to being a majority of libraries.
If only there were some organization that made this sort of information readily available...
Absolutely, and I'm also in favour of gun ownership by responsible people, just as I am in favour generally of things being granted to responsible people. The argument that's been raging in recent years in the US has little to do with whether or not guns should be allowed as possessions - good luck with that one - and is actually about one side wanting to add controls/checks on who can have guns, which I have no issue with but apparently the gun lobby does. If you have a health issue likely to cause an accident, you're not allowed to drive, but apparently checking whether you have health issues before giving you a firearm is insane.
Back to the issue - good on the librarians! In the current climate it takes some brass balls to do something like that.
"All of those arguments - especially the drunk driving one - can be used to support gun ownership. For the record I support personal gun ownership by people who have not proven themselves unsuitable."
Sort of. Here the argument is that TOR provides an important service for many people and can help people express themselves the world over, and balanced against that, the fact that some people will use it to do bad things, is not enough justification to ban it.
For guns, the first part of the balancing act is much lighter, and the other side much heavier: guns are incredibly dangerous objects, leading in part to the United States being one of the most violent and murderous societies in the developed world. (The US has a murder rate of 4.7/100000, compared with the UK and France at 1.0/100000.) The freedom arguments are much weaker: privacy online and being able to own a particular object are significantly different.
In the end it's another balancing act, as is almost every decision of this kind.
Oh, while I think about it, anyone who says that the reason they should be allowed to gun is because it's in the Constitution is producing a stupid argument: firstly, it isn't in the Constitution, it's in an Amendment; secondly, the right to own slaves is in the Constitution, but most people would agree that isn't a reasonable thing now; thirdly, if we are talking about whether something should be legal or not, stating that it is legal is not an argument.
I don't think you're quite getting this constitution thing...
Oh, while I think about it, anyone who says that the reason they should be allowed to gun is because it's in the Constitution is producing a stupid argument: firstly, it isn't in the Constitution, it's in an Amendment;
So it's in the Constitution.... Amendments to the Constitution are still part of the Constitution....
secondly, the right to own slaves is in the Constitution, but most people would agree that isn't a reasonable thing now;
Which is why it's no longer in the Constitution, as per Constitutional amendment. That said, please also be aware that changing the Constitution is such a serious thing to do, that particular amendment took a civil war...
thirdly, if we are talking about whether something should be legal or not, stating that it is legal is not an argument.
The entire point of a Constitution is that it's a basis for the most important parts of the law, and is much, much harder to alter. Other laws can be struck down if they contradict the Constitution, and often are. It is a special law, and special consideration regarding its tenets is indeed valid.
Does anyone actually believe Tor is anonymous anymore?
Doesn't it all route through some big ass American government servers these days.
Is this just a story to make people that abuse Tor think it's safe?
I'm unsure what to believe anymore so I'll just sit here in my tin foil hat eating organic seaweed while listening to enya on vinyl with my wind up record player. Sail away sail away sail away....
Oh they try. Even if you can't penetrate something, you can try and surround it, but even if you can't completely surround it, you can lay enough perimeter cameratraps to build up a limited picture over time.
But it swings both ways - you can manipulate people who collect data, if they don't know that you know; and if you know where their perimeter isn't, they will eventually convince themselves you aren't using it as they never saw you.
Wouldn't it be nice, if it was assumed by the state, that all its citizens are innocent until proven guilty?
Simply taking away the ability to commit a crime, isn't going to help society to progress, or for that matter, prevent the crime from eventually happening elsewhere.
As one comment eluded to earlier, books could become the most divisive criminal tool we have ever seen, because unlike the internet equivalent, there is no way of tracking who is reading books on chemistry or electronics and thus honing their demonic skills to whatever ends.
Perhaps we could see the day when all paper books are banned, because they are seen to be beyond the control of the state and thus a threat.
And then we will see granny getting pinned to the floor as horrified commuters cheer on the heroes, wrestling a terrifying Mills & Boone out of her hands.
Ridiculous? Well, I truly hope so.
Impossible? You haven't been paying attention. Have you.
And then we will see granny getting pinned to the floor as horrified commuters cheer on the heroes, wrestling a terrifying Mills & Boone out of her hands.
Ridiculous? Impossible? No, just implausible. There would be no wrestling:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes
"Wouldn't it be nice, if it was assumed by the state, that all its citizens are innocent until proven guilty?"
I assume you meant "unless proven guilty". As it stands, your statement predicates that all are guilty, it's just that we ain't proved it yet! On the other other hand, maybe it was some version or irony which I'm not quite getting :-)
Oh yeah, it's "alluded", unless you are trying to hide from someone ;-)
Down vote?
Err, please explain, as my mind is melting trying to understand just what it is I said that could invoke such negativity.
John is right, the phrase can quite easily be misinterpreted as, everyone will eventually be found guilty.
And not in a "No one is innocent" sense.
If the world is to be judged on historical references, then let's get those references written in a modern and precise fashion and not leave them to misinterpretation by future folk.
They go after the library for adding a service to their community? Maybe cops should ask for the road/transit to be shut down because someone might be criminal. Maybe they should close grocery stores, banks, and every other piece of modern society because criminals might on the off chance use their services. Cops have been without supervision for too long. Maybe the public should have a chat with the cops about getting back to work and stop bothering everybody who might get struck by lightning. It won't hurt to review staffing levels as it seems they have too many and not enough work.
The whole argument that the connection could be used for illegal activity is a bit silly. Libraries where I live (not New Hampshire) do not let anyone just plop down in front of a computer. You have give some sort of ID and they let you use a computer. If illegal activity was traced back to any library, it could be relatively easy to determine who was using the computers at that time. Also, libraries where I am limit what you can do and you are out in the open.
Librarians are the guardians of the sacred stacks. They battle against the corrupting ignorant darkness with the shield of library cards. By granting access to anyone with a proof of residency in a given lending area, the citizen now has access to all the books through the magic of inter-library loans.
I, as a benefactor, swear to guard thee too, and genuflect with humble gratitude for the ceaseless struggle you endure.
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