Simple situation here. People post illegal data to the blockchain. Whether it be copyright infringement, hate speech, child porn - there's illegal data of various types across a broad spectrum. There's already some such illegal data on the Steem blockchain.
Steemit.com and all frontends, of course, have to react and remove such content off their websites.
But it still remains on the blockchain. The blockchain itself is not under any jurisdiction, but there's no blockchain without multiple copies of the same in real, physical servers, across the world.
So, if I'm running a Steemd node in a country with hate speech laws, copyright laws, etc. - is not actively running the Steem blockchain an illegal act? As a witness I'm even actively contributing to it. Who knows, maybe my witness node has signed in illegal data onto the blockchain at some point. But that's besides the point - there's illegal data on the Steem blockchain and I'm running it.
I have spoken to my lawyer about this, and he has advised me to stop running a witness node for the Steem blockchain. He is of the opinion that the illegal data must be removed from the blockchain - just the frontend is not enough. I'm looking for further opinion on the matter.