message pools revisited

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uunet!bilbo.suite.com!jim (Jim Miller) writes:

> I think it is time to ask again.  Do people think it would be a good  
> idea to create a news group for exchanging anonymous messages?   
> Alternatively, perhaps some cypherpunks with free time would like to  
> code up a simplified distributed message pool service modeled after  
> USENET.  You would need servers to distribute the messages and  
> front-end "reader" apps to simplify searching for messages destined  
> for you.  Any takers?

I think it's time - messages to Pr0duct Cypher (sp?) have begun to appear
on C-punks and on at least one of the Usenet groups; I think it's time
for alt.crypto-traffic, or alt.W.A.S.T.E (from Pynchon's _The Crying of
Lot 49_ - I think it was Tim May who first suggested alt.W.A.S.T.E).

I found a nice Perl script to scan a news spool (or a subset thereof) for
arbitrary text strings. It could easily be modified to send its output to
mail; so one wouldn't even need to subscribe to the group to rcv messages,
if correspondents would be so obliging as to mention the intended target
of the message (which, of course, would create a security risk and
facilitate traffic analysis; security or convenience, choose only one.)


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--
Greg Broiles               ".. has bizarre Cyberanarchist theories relating
greg@goldenbear.com         to human punishment." -- L. Detweiler

> I think it's time - messages to Pr0duct Cypher (sp?) have begun to appear
> on C-punks and on at least one of the Usenet groups; I think it's time
> for alt.crypto-traffic, or alt.W.A.S.T.E (from Pynchon's _The Crying of
> Lot 49_ - I think it was Tim May who first suggested alt.W.A.S.T.E).
...
> --
> Greg Broiles               ".. has bizarre Cyberanarchist theories relating
> greg@goldenbear.com         to human punishment." -- L. Detweiler


I don't recall whether it was Eric (Hughes) or me that specifically
came up with this....we were riffing on various screwy ideas and this
one popped up. The biggest concern is that the "ideal" name would be
"alt.w.a.s.t.e." except that the period at the end violates the naming
conventions.

In any case, various "pool" groups exist, such as the *.test groups
(as mentioned by others recently), flame groups, etc. I used
"alt.fan.david-sternlight" and "alt.sternlight" for my "BlackNet"
experiment some months back, though the only encrypted messages sent
to BlackNet, that I saw, were posted on Cypherpunks. (In general,
_not_ a good idea.)

Speaking of Pynchon, an amazing piece of news!, My non-W.A.S.T.E
mailbox contained a message today revealing the actual location, in
Aptos no less, of Thomas Pynchon.

Yes, you read this right. Pynchon, not photographed since his high
school yearbook photo 40 years ago, a total cipher, has been living
not more than a few miles from me all these years. 

It seems that in the early morning hours of January 28, 1990, someone
accessed the Department of Motor Vehicles computer files and got a
printout of the elusive man's home address, personal characteristics,
etc. A copy of this was forwarded to someone who studies Pynchon, and
thence to me, for reasons I won't go into right now.

The implications for Cypherpunks, privacy, and Pynchon as roadkill on
the digital highway are clear.

(For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, or why
this is so significant, ignore this. For those of you who appreciate
the import of this event, I will have the document with me at the
Cypherpunks meeting on Saturday!)

--Tim May

-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power:2**859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.