FBI Sends Subpoena To Boing Boing Over Its Tor Exit Node, Gets Educated, Goes Away

There have been plenty of discussions on the possible "risks" of running a tor exit node, where clueless law enforcement might confuse traffic that comes out of that node as being from the person who actually manages the node. And, indeed, last year we wrote about an absolutely ridiculous case in which a tor exit node operator in Austria was found guilty as an "accomplice" because someone used his node to commit a crime. Thankfully, it appears that the US isn't going quite down that road yet. It appears that a month and a half ago, of all places, the website Boing Boing received a subpoena concerning the tor exit node that the site hosts, demanding an appearance before a federal grand jury in New Jersey.

Except, Boing Boing's lawyer, Lauren Gelman, quickly shot off a note explaining "tor exit node" to the FBI... and the FBI understood what was going on and moved on. Really. Here's the note that Gellman sent:

Special Agent XXXXXX.

I represent Boing Boing. I just received a Grand Jury Subpoena to Boing Boing dated June 12, 2015 (see attached).

The Subpoena requests subscriber records and user information related to an IP address. The IP address you cite is a TOR exit node hosted by Boing Boing (please see: http://tor-exit.boingboing.net/). As such, Boing Boing does not have any subscriber records, user information, or any records at all related to the use of that IP address at that time, and thus cannot produce any responsive records.

I would be happy to discuss this further with you if you have any questions.

They didn't have any questions. They understood the situation and (one assumes) continued the investigation through other means. As Cory Docotorow writes:

The FBI agent did his homework, realized we had no logs to give him, and no one had to go to New Jersey. Case closed. For us, anyway. Not sure what went down with the grand jury.

We write plenty of stories about "clueless" law enforcement and politicians overreacting to things by not understanding the technology. Because that's newsworthy. But it is worthwhile, every once in a while, to remember that there are some in these jobs who do understand technology and are perfectly willing to understand what is happening and continue to do their jobs without going overboard.

And, as Cory notes, perhaps this story of nothing actually happening will be useful in convincing a few more people that maybe the "risks" of running a tor exit node aren't quite as high as some have made them out to be. Yes, you may receive a subpoena, but hopefully it's from law enforcement willing to understand how tor actually works and what it means.

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