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Re: [tor-relays] Interrogated by Finnish police for alleged idendity crimes, fraud and attempts of fraud

Hi,
With the 3 big exit nodes I had in France (about 30MB/s in both direction for each of them), I got called by police a lot of time (may be 10 times approximately ? I do not really count anymore) on investigations about misdeed that was committed from IP addresses of my Tor relays (95.130.9.190 and 95.130.9.89 mainly, at Digicube, not running anymore since June, 2015). No call about the Online.net one (62.210.206.25, now Relay only since January, 2015), which was as big as the 2 others and Exit too, but the ISP is well known as servers and website big provider in France so I guess they realize it's an exit node before calling me. The "facts" were also, most of the time, fraud and attempts of fraud but also slander one time.
I was most of the time called as suspect because IP are related to my name (because I was leasing those servers), as for a home connection in their point of view (not aware that those IP are dedicated servers IP). Then I simply explain this in appropriate terms. After some times, depending on the agent, for new investigations I'm sometimes "heard" as witness. And most of the time the meeting is fine.
Each time, I explain that my servers are rented in my name, and that I use them for volunteer participation to a free proxies and VPN network called Tor. I then give some details and explanations about what is Tor, who created it, what are the goals of the project (about protection of expression in bad countries and censorship avoidance, by accessing the same Internet that others do, pricacy protection too), and yes, the misuses... and that these are discouraging misuse and it is not the reason why we participate in this network (far from it !). Then I give the IP of those servers (and one of them is the reason why they called me). And I explain that they are computers with a very fast bandwidth, located in datacenters (Rennes, Vitry...) that can be accessed and configured remotely, like a remote desktop.
When they ask the question about logs and how to find the author of the fact, my answer is that (unfortunately in that case), Tor is designed as it's not possible for anybody to find who is the IP address from where the traffic originated. It's very secure for those who need to use it. Of course I tell them that if they have suspects in the entourage of the victim, they can check if one of them was connected to the Tor network at the time of the "fact" but as me and others people are using Tor for online privacy without any intention of misuse against anybody, using Tor is not a proof of misuse and is most of the time not done for bad intention. Of course some questioning about a suspect using Tor at the same hour would be rightful in this particular situation, anyway (like I was questioned).
All time I also come with a sheet of paper explaining Tor a little bit deeply, what are the motivation of the teams and people behind this project, (even in front of misuses that we are, of course, not proud of having on the Tor network, even if without the Tor network, those misuses would have been done by another way). In France I
Of course sometimes the agent is not very happy about the Tor Network as the investigations is likely to fail because of the Tor Network efficiency. When the misuse is real and obviously bad, nobody can be happy of it !
In all those cases, my words are honest and true; as we shouldn't be ashamed of participating to projects aiming to a better word and more freedom, but shouldn't be happy of misuses, my personal preference is to be understanding and true. I also tell them that I'm participating, with my computers, to others scientific projects like World Community Grid (explaining it's about cancer research and a lot of others subjects) : It can be seen as "not related" but it is, as that's the way we are volunteers to the Tor Network !
Here's for my feedback ! It's very personal of course, I hope nobody would copy it without feeling it :) I'm just expressing my own feeling on those situations, if it can help everybody to better understand those cases. 

Best regards !

Julien ROBIN


On 31/10/2016 14:25, Juuso Lapinlampi wrote:

Putting the word out: I was interrogated by the Finnish police today for
multiple alleged counts (15+) of identity crimes, fraud and attempts of
fraud. The invitation letter to be interrogated was sent out on
2016-10-21 and received by me on 2016-10-25. Today is 2016-10-31.

The police suspects me because of an "IP-address assigned to my name",
which I can't confirm or deny to have a relation to me. As a suspect, I
was not told what this aclaimed IP-address was on a specific date to my
knowledge. It is only speculation if these allegations wrongly against
me have something to do with my relation with the Tor community or
activism about digital rights online.

Pending ongoing investigation, I am not allowed by law to share more
specific details about to the investigation. I'd be glad to reveal more
details about the case once the investigation is over and share/hear how
I became a suspect, once I know about it. (Note that my story is at
least slightly opinionated.)

I had a witness with me and I feel like my rights were being violated
during the interrogation. The officer (not to be named publicly in
respect for privacy) didn't want to allow me to write down their badge
number by taking the badge away from me while trying to write down the
numbers. The officer looked slightly anxious.

After refusing to comment on few questions (to which I have a legal
right as a suspect), soon after me and my belongings with me were
searched for aclaimed "security reasons" and "making sure I'm not
recording this interrogation (with a phone)". I'll let you decide on the
implications on unwarranted searches and individual legal protection.
(See supreme court decision KKO:1990:36.)

I audibly and multiple times in calm manner protested to not consent to
searches, but alas it happened against my will without being suspected
of wrongdoing at the police station in front of my witness. I didn't
physically resist but also didn't voluntarily help the officer.

The officer asked me inappropriate questions which were not related to
the investigation. I was asked about my previous involvement with the
police, how much I knew about the law and unsolicited advice about how
"it will be easier for me if I talked". I demanded the officer to write
down every question since the beginning of interrogation to the
interrogation minutes, including the inappropriate ones, but the officer
refused, trying to make up a fake reason how they were "irrelevant".

The officer raised their voice once or twice during the 45 minutes of
interrogation, apparently angry that I would not "make a confession" or
"help out and tell more" to prove innocence. Confronting the officer
again with a simple question "am I a suspect or a witness" to confirm my
position, I was confirmed again that I was a suspect in the case. Subtly
reminding that "I have my rights" that should be respected, the officer
replied among the lines of "I have my rights too" with disrespect.

After the interrogation minutes did not rightfully represent what was
actually questioned, the only sensible thing to me was to not sign the
minutes. The officer after the officer made threatening claims about how
I "would be going to court" over this, but didn't spend too much effort
on trying to get my signature.

Once the interrogation was concluded, the officer made an unsolicited
comment of "gladly not seeing people like [me] often". I told that I
would be in contact with my lawyers.

I am glad that I was not detained in a cell or arrested, which in my
opinion I can likely attribute to having a witness with me. Looking back
at what just happened at the police station, I should have demanded a
lawyer immediately to the interrogation after having my rights violated,
but I'm relying on my witness for now to make a testimony if necessary.

I repeat that I absolutely deny being guilty of any suspected crimes. Be
safe out there, tor-relays@ and all. (I have legal support behind me and
have never been particularly worried about the investigation or outcome
of this case.)

Proof of invitation letter:
https://wubthecaptain.eu/files/legal/2016-10-21-alleged-fraud-identity-crime.jpg
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