Re: require for new remailer list tag?

sameer suggests the creation of a new remailer list property, "permanent",
to denote a remailer expected by its operator(s) to persist indefinitely.

I'm curious about the potential sociological effects of such a move. I
imagine that pseudonyms would be attracted to "permanent" remailers for
use in their reply chains. But this phenomenon could/should be mitigated by
the possibility that sting remailers would tend to advertise themselves as
"permanent" (truthfully, even !), in anticipation of the bias in pseudonym
remailer chain inclusion.

Enemies of anonymity might specially target remailers claiming to be 
"permanent" for antisocial uses.

This is all similar to the effects (observed and supposed) of the existing
reliability ratings for remailers. But the sharp contrast of a binary 
property might make the effects more pronounced.

Perhaps it would be useful/meaningful to note the duration (or
starting date) of each remailer's term of operation, on the theory that past
survival is some indicator of the chances for continued existence.

Anyway, I think it would be an interesting experiment to try.

-Futplex <futplex@pseudonym.com>

>I'm curious about the potential sociological effects of such a move. I
>imagine that pseudonyms would be attracted to "permanent" remailers for
>use in their reply chains. But this phenomenon could/should be mitigated by
>the possibility that sting remailers would tend to advertise themselves as
>"permanent" (truthfully, even !), in anticipation of the bias in pseudonym
>remailer chain inclusion.

Personally I would be attracted to a fly-by-night remailer that was only up
for a short period of time. This is based on the [reasonable] assumption that
when the remailer is taken down, then any existing logfiles are also toasted.

A 30 minute remailer could exist by advertising in a known pool of billboards,
advertising it's service, free or for cyberbucks for the next 30 minutes
only. People wishing to send anon email would scan the current remailers,
do a nym check for a superficial check of reliable message delivery, then
negotiate with the mailer to ensure it is still accepting, and then deliver
the message. Less than 30 minutes later the remailer is gone and your message
is queued up or sent as per the contract.

Any LEA/monitor/Co$ would have a hard time trying to suppoena records from
a program that removed all traces of itself within minutes of it running.
If the mail isnt delivered you can choose to bad bad on the nym to the
relevant nym rating services. If it is you can allocate kudos to the nym's
good name.

You could use the "2 cyberbucks for 30 minutes" remailer as your front end
into the pool or the final delivery point or whatever your preference.

People could start off their day in the morning by clicking to download a
remailer (suitably signed) to their machine for a bit of cash earnings during
the time they will be away in a meeting. Heck java could do this =). No need
to worry about lunch money, get your machine to earn it.

You get the idea. Old and reliable isnt always what you want... too easy to
watch.

Cheers,
Mark
mark@lochard.com.au
The above opinions are rumoured to be mine.