IIRC there are Tor exit nodes in germany, they also filter some traffic but only on the lowest amount of effort they have to do legally. Ie the usual suspects: illegal porn, illegal torrents (usually also porn) and websites not conforming to strict german industry standards.
How does the node operator know what traffic should be blocked (i.e. that something is illegal porn or illegal torrent) ? Is there an official source that says for example which website should be blocked and that is enough ?
I have a Tor relay (not an exit node) running in Germany.
Once I started reading other people's experience of running an exit node through that ISP (Hetzner), it turned out that the hosting company was the one receiving these reports and forwarding them to you. After it, the consequences can range all the way from warnings to physically shutting down your server until you do something ridiculous (IIRC send them a physical mail).
Since I didn't want to risk my server being shut down for whatever reason (there are some other uses of it non-Tor related, and the rest of the monthly bandwidth goes towards Tor relay), I've decided to just not run the exit node.
I'd say it's still very useful to the Tor network, since it handles something like 400 GB of Tor traffic per day.
I was sort of joking a bit but I do know that german node operators block some traffic.
However, it's on a purely notice-and-takedown basis, which is the DMCA of germany but more broadly applicable; if you are made aware of illegal activity on your network you must stop the activity and take reasonable measures to prevent future abuse. They can also fall under the network operator laws in which case they are not responsible for the traffic at all but I'm not sure if that is applicable to tor nodes or not.
Under german law, yes, notice-and-takedown is basically all you need to adhere to; if you are aware of illegal activities, you must take measures to stop them. (But unlike the DMCA for example, you are allowed to verify any notices thoroughly before taking action, you only have to listen to verified claims)
