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?
In general, unless your service is pretty big, just following best practices for security and moderation should be fine. Once you get to a certain user base size, laws start kicking in regarding what data you can collect, how you can manage it, what responsibilities you have with regard to that data, etc.
That being said, seeing as you are not a citizen, I’d advise you to just provide the resources to someone else who can do all the hosting for you. That way they’re assuming all the liability.
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In general, unless your service is pretty big, just following best practices for security and moderation should be fine. Once you get to a certain user base size, laws start kicking in regarding what data you can collect, how you can manage it, what responsibilities you have with regard to that data, etc.
That being said, seeing as you are not a citizen, I’d advise you to just provide the resources to someone else who can do all the hosting for you. That way they’re assuming all the liability.