Permissionless networks come with regulatory grey zones. This is known. We are here to change an existing system.
Mysterium Network is building an incentivised, permissionless network. When we first came together as a project team, we knew this day, and more of its kind would come.
TOR project, a front runner in this the distributed internet space has faced its fair share of battles against systems of centralisation. A quick google search shows up specific cases against Tor exit nodes. You can see some examples here and here.
Mysterium Node Runner settles claim in Germany
On 15-04-2020, a legal claim was presented against a Mysterium Node Runner in Germany. The claim was that someone was uploading copyrighted content through this node. While no file size was specified, a checksum of the file that had been uploaded was provided.
The Mysterium support team worked with the node runner to help him retrieve logs and investigate how many nodes were connected at a given timestamp. This information helped the node runner to prove there were other members in his “household”, i.e. network.
Our understanding is that the case is now closed.
Mysterium Network’s ongoing commitment to Node Runners
As participants in a permissionless network, we as a community are committed to a free-er internet.
We are happy to work with node runners to provide any information (within our means, we are after all a decentralised system) to help in cases like the one above.
As technology providers, we will try our best to protect all actors within the network. In saying this, given the research and development phase of Mysterium Network, we cannot guarantee protection for Mysterium Node Runners.
We understand the need for a legal framework to help protect node runners and have prioritised this following our launch to mainnet. For now, we urge you to look at TOR tips for running an exit node as guidance.
We are also currently seeking guidance from industry bodies within the internet freedom landscape to help shape an industry standard for dVPN, so that we can work towards a long term solution to a known problem.
We thank you for your commitment to the cause.
Onward.
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