Report: German police seize TOR servers

UPDATE: Shava Nerad of the Tor project tells BoingBoing that while 6 Tor servers were seized by German authorities, the computers were among "dozens and dozens" -- and that child porn, not anonymizing software, was the target of the sweep. "German police are not cracking down on Tor," she says. More here. Earlier reports from BoingBoing readers follow.

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BoingBoing reader Alexander Janssen says,

I haven't yet read much about this topic anywhere else expect in the German news. But the German police are currently raiding server rooms all over Germany, and seizing TOR servers.

Apparently it's about the proliferation of child pornography, although no charges have been pressed against TOR operators yet. [Ed note: updates to the story indicate that this is not the case.]

Link, and here some other pointers (all in german) about the crackdown: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Depending on whether or not the state presses charges against TOR-operators (like "supporting the proliferation of child-porn" or something) we might be in trouble -- and it could bring anonymization to an end.

We need support, lots of people are chanting the same stupid arguments against anonymization over and over again... "You don't need to be afraid if you have nothing to hide" ... "Only criminals have the need for anonymity."

Reader comment: geekpdx says,

AskMefi has a great list of responses to that infernal "if you have nothing to hide..." question.