back to article SCREW YOU, FEDS! Dozen or more US libraries line up to run Tor exit nodes

A dozen libraries across the US have asked for details on how to host Tor exit nodes following a decision by the small town of Lebanon, New Hampshire, to forego police warnings. Following a decision by the library's board of trustees earlier this week to put the exit node back online, the founder of the Library Freedom Project …

  1. connermac725

    More things criminals could use

    Hey they might use roads for that same criminal activity so should we shut those down too hmm DHS frickin flawed logic there

    1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      Re: More things criminals could use

      Hey, you know they might use guns as well to conduct crime, so lets ban the sale of those! What, is that is too political in the USA?

      Well how about doing a bit of freedom-bothering at the local library, no one will mind that...

    2. martinusher Silver badge

      Re: More things criminals could use

      Road use is covered by ANPR (which is gradually easing its way into the US). Next up will be facial recognition. Using cash to pay for things is already suspect.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: More things criminals could use


        Using cash to pay for things is already suspect.

        So using a $10 bill to pay for {insert fast food item of choice here} will trigger a report to the IRS/NSA/FBI/GCHQ/FSB/etc?

        Citation needed please.


        I have reduced the number of times I use plastic/nfc in recent years just to cut down on the tracking that is builtin to all forms of credit/debit card use. I get enough cash out of the ATM once a week. Sure that is tracked but what I spend that cash on is nigh on impossible to track. Serial Numbers on notes?

        Money exchange rule 101 states that you pay for goods with high denomination notes which are exchanged for lower denomination ones plus coinage. Past the first exchange/transaction and you are lost to the trackers.


        I am an old hippy at heart. I love 'sticking it to the man'. Why should I not be free to go about my daily business without the Government or Big Biz tracking where I go or what I spend my legally obtained money on?

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. g e

          Re: More things criminals could use

          I'd not be surprised if somewhere things like paying for > £100 of shopping in Tesco (for example) with cash was 'logged' in some manner for subsequent 'retrieval'

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Using Cash

          I've always used a lot of Cash, helps keep that credit rating above 800 which is how I've learned that cash is tracked in many ways and has been for a long time. More than a decade ago I made an extra payment, in cash, on a bank loan. Manager came out and started asking questions, I started asking back. Turns out that all bank deposits over $10,000 cash were and still are considered suspicious and deposits into private (non-business) accounts were reported to the government. The manager had just returned from training where they were told all cash activities, even under $1,000 and particularly those with smaller bills, were suspicious. When we wouldn't say where we got the extra $1G he felt forced to report it.

          Also carrying "large" amounts of cash is suspicious. What is large? In one case I know of only a few hundred dollars was enough to be considered suspicious, enough to buy a motorcycle or car, even a cheap used one is suspicious. Many businesses refuse to do cash deals even when they are required by law to do so and not just for deals over $10,000.

          The State has not been ignoring your "small" purchases and has been targeting them by declaring that all cash use is suspicious and of course pointing out that criminals use cash. A business that collects a lot of cash can face extra enforcement (btw apparently a way to defer that enforcement is to say the business deals with immigrants who prefer cash and enforcement becomes less of a problem).

          The banks have been encouraging the outlawing of cash. In Canada the banks had tried on more than one occasion, some official and recorded, to have the $1,000 bill outlawed. Their early arguments were based on their inability to get their cut of such transactions. With the large number of $1,000 bills going through their system they knew the banks were losing lots of potential revenue. Eventually the banks began promoting the criminal connection and succeeded in having the $1,000 bill removed, though there are still over a million of them out there, some meant as savings. That the government doesn't have to pay up when they show up is yet another reason for outlawing them.

          Cash is on it's way out, not because child abusers and criminals use cash but because banks and governments want a cut of all transactions done by those little people who must be made to pay high rates of tax. Interestingly they do not consider businesses or the wealthy who avoid paying equivalent tax rates as criminals.

      2. I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

        Re: More things criminals could use

        Aren't US roads already a major source of income from people who use cash?

  2. Eddy Ito Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Streisand effect FTW!

  3. Anonymous Coward

    Fortunately, DHS is so discombulated (to put it politely), that an ICE flack knew the sources of TOR. Now this is a project for me to lend time to (my capabilities physically v. their needs).

  4. cyrus

    What would happen

    If every one with an Internet connection did the same?

    Food for thought.

    1. PleebSmash
  5. moiety
  6. westlake

    The numbers game.

    There are about 16,500 public libraries in the US --- inquiries from a bare 12 of them would count as abject failure in the real world.

    1. phil dude
      Thumb Up

      Re: The numbers game.

      1. With the *threat* the government ruining your life, perhaps not?

      2. These things take time...


    2. John Bailey

      Re: The numbers game.


      No sweetie..

      The are about 16,500 public libraries in the US.

      Enquiries from even one of them is a START.

      Revolutions don't happen over night in the real world. You should visit some time, and see what it's like.

      Change happens.

      Change can happen small, and grow bigger.

      But it has to start somewhere.

      1. Ole Juul

        Re: The numbers game.

        Numbers? How many people, and library boards in particular, have now heard of the Library Freedom Project? Things are looking up.

    3. Nick Stallman

      Re: The numbers game.

      As of a few months ago, 0 libraries were looking at Tor exit nodes.

      Now there are 16. That's a whopping infinite % increase! (16 / 0 = NaN = Infinity)

      Numbers work both ways.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        Re: The numbers game.

        Next week there'll be hundreds thanks to this publicity.

    4. LucreLout Silver badge

      Re: The numbers game.


      In the words of Egg Shen "That was nothing. But that's how it always begins. Very small."

  7. Cincinnataroo

    Hey I believe terrorists use cars. Let's ban those.

    The roads.

    The English Language.

    The C++ programming language.

    At least one of them supports Manchester United.

    And here's the biggie, the evil guys use US dollars.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Hell, the biggest bad guys print their own.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward


      another one supports Chelsea

      and another one Arsenal

      Ban the lot of them. {please}

      The proper game starts tonight with England vs Fiji.

      1. Anonymous Custard Silver badge

        Re: Plus

        And if you believe Hollywood, the main bad guy (or at least his main evil henchman) will have an English accent...

    3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      "The C++ programming language."

      So that puts Linus firmly in the anti-terror camp.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re. Re: Plus

    I have it on good authority that a brand-new-out-of-the-box memory card or pendrive etc has unique tracking information embedded in it by the manufacturers which can identify that card on any machine it is installed in, like a digital fingerprint and even which retail shop it was sold to if the manufacturers record this; a certain one wouldn't tell me even about the wear leveling.

    Its not just the serial number which can be erased, this persists with multiple zerofills, random fills and even X-ray irradiation so it is obviously encoded at a very low level probably in a .1um PROM similar to an SPD chip on each chip in the stack.

    This information can be read back by writing to the chip and recording the exact time it takes to write each sector, when it hits a logic 1 the write slows down by a small percentage.

    Interestingly there was talk about being able to reconstruct commonly printed strings of characters from dead inkjet cartridges by extrapolating the wear patterns/directions on the nozzles.

    Its very difficult but doable which is why most finance houses destroy them with the confidential waste just in case someone figures out how to use this + the cross shredded paper to extract useful data.

    Its also even possible to figure out which printer they were used on in a building, the chips inside C*n*n,*p, *ps*n etc tanks all have this feature to prevent refilling.

    The possible attack here would be to hack into the specific printer's firmware using the smart chip as these aren't ever checked and people trust that it is in fact the genuine article if it has the official label(s).

    Needless to say suspect everything until proven otherwise if you value your freedom.

  9. JetSetJim Silver badge


    Don't mess with librarians!

  10. Matt Bryant Silver badge


    Can't help but chuckle at the thought of Dread Pirate Roberts reading this news in prison and wailing "Now they put Tor nodes in libraries."

  11. Mike 16 Silver badge

    TOR and DPR

    Problem is that the exit nodes are in the basement, infested with Rodents of Unusual Size.

    Yeah, sure, you don't believe in them...

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