William was raided for running a Tor exit node. Please help if you can.

Fri Nov 30 22:20:33 UTC 2012

On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 4:46 PM, Jimmy Hess <mysidia at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 11/29/12, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
>> If the computer at IP:port:timestamp transmitted child porn, a warrant
>> for "all computers" is also too broad. "Computers which use said IP
>
> As you know, there may always be some uncertainty about which computer
> was using a certain IP address at a certain time --  the computer
> assigned that address might have been off,  with a   deviant

Or more likely behind a NAT device where the address which presents is
the NAT device. But the police won't know that until they search.
Until they search they have no factual basis for the presumptions
either that more than one computer was associated with the activity or
that it isn't possible to readily identify which computer was
involved. That Tor node was probably on a static IP address and was
probably  on the same static IP address at the time of the alleged
activity.

"Reasonable suspicion" doesn't mean Bob thinks you did it, it means
that there's a trail of facts which lead *directly* to the evidence
you seek permission to seize. The trail to child porn doesn't include
the right to seize the stack of John Denver music and while it might
include the right to search the shelf of DVDs it doesn't include the
right to seize the ones produced by Disney. The right to search your
computer and the right to seize it are not at all the same thing.

Practically speaking, right now the police are going to seize all your
computers. But keep watching. Some time in the next decade or two
warrants will start to get quashed for failing to specify (by
parameters) *which* computer they were looking for. As computers
become more central to our lives it will probably come out that they
have the right to duplicate your hard drives and other read/write
media but don't have a right to take the originals unless they observe
warrant-covered material *on* the computer while searching.

Regards,
Bill Herrin

-- 
William D. Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/>
Falls Church, VA 22042-3004