I want to self host a suite of services and make them public.
What kind of services? Well, all kinds. Matrix, lemmy, bookwyrm, and I may think of others in the future.
The problem? I don’t even know where to begin from a legal stand point. Not only that, I am a barely legal immigrant (vulnerable to deportation) from a country that is not very liked by the gov. I am afraid to put myself in a vulnerable position and get more trouble than the typical US citizen.
Is there a reasonable way to be able to self host public services without legal trouble? Is there a resource I can follow for best practices to avoid issues?
This is also one of the biggest reasons for me why i stopped hosting things for strangers. My country is insanely backwards with when it comes to internet law. For example Mastodon (and others) caches media and text-contents of posts from remote instances on your own server, you are now distributing - you don’t even need to directly follow someone who posts media (attachments) or even just links to a website thats hosts unlawful stuff and you’re on the hook and considered just as responsible as the original poster. Insanity.
I guess you’re from Germany too?
Uh… don’t? I mean, why rush it? Host it privately. What compels you to host publicly facing such high risks?
