Hey guys,
I am running an I2Pd-Node on my raspberry pi somewhere in Germany and I am loving it so far.
About the ethical implications I am at peace with me, because I know, that it’s not possible to allow good things without allowing the bad things too.
Sometimes I am a little bit concerned about, what a paranoid government could do. Technically - I don’t know what I am forwarding. And since we’re not talking about providing an exit-node (to clear-net) like we usually do with Tor, the risk should be greatly reduced as well.
As far as I know, theoretically this scenario could be possible: A large marketplace for illegal stuff appears within the I2P-Network. Law enforcement connects to it and tries to identify the “hops” between them and the marketplace (one by one) and my node is one of it. I know how crazy this sounds. Not very likely, but not impossible as well.
How do you think about this? Are there any recommended precautions you could take to prove you’re not the criminal, if LE surprisingly knocks at your door?
~sp3ctre
I2P is an alternative encrypted routing system. Legally and technically not much different than the normal internet.
If:
Nefarious Actor -> Router -> <{internet router}> <{internet router}> <{internet router}> <{internet router}> <{internet router}> -> Router -> Nefarious Webserver
is a routing chain wherein each <{internet router}> is legally protected because it is indiscriminately acting to forward traffic regardless of nefarious activity, then:
Nefarious Actor -> router -> <{i2p router}> <{internet router}> <{i2p router}> <{internet router}> <{i2p router}> <{internet router}> <{i2p router}> -> Router -> nefarious website
Would be equally protected. You are not doing anything different, you are simply acting as an additional router, indiscriminately passing traffic along.
In the US, according to recent supreme court cases, this is constitutionally and legally protected - you are providing an intermediary service for general use and thus are protected the same way an internet carrier is. Most EU countries have something similar, and the EU has special protections for smaller service providers under the DSA. Since you are closest to an ISP under German law, just a very, very, very small one; you should be legally protected simply because you are not actively participating in nefarious activity, just users of your service might be.
Vaguely based on:
https://freedomhouse.org/country/germany/freedom-net/2024
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_urhdag/index.html
https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/digital-services-act
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-171_bq7d.pdf