Instant Remailers

At 12:38 AM 5/19/96, Mark M. wrote:

>It is possible for someone to operate an anonymous remailer anonymously.
>Just get a UNIX shell account under a fake name, pay with cash, and set up
>the remailing software.  The identity of the operator of such a remailer
>would be difficult, if not impossible, to discover.

I'm always surprised that this hasn't been happening; maybe it will when
the new clients become available.

(Doesn't Sameer's system offer such accounts? Couldn't there be dozens of
remailers based at c2.org? Of the 16 Type-1 remailers listed in one of
Raph's recent reports, only 2 were at c2.org.)

Now, can a site which "offers" such accounts be held liable? If the site
drops an account when presented with _appropriate_ legal papers (a court
order, such as an injunction), and if it takes a "hands-off" policy with
respect to what customers run in their accounts, then it ought to be safe
from actual liability.

(I am not a lawyer, but it seems that having no prior knowledge of acts
committed, and complying with court orders, reduces the likelihood of
successful suits to near zero. Note that Netcom did _not_ cancel the
COS-related accounts, and so extended its legal hassles.)

The advantage of "pliable" remailers (which go away when hit) is that:

Cost of preparing case to stop a remailer >> cost of setting up a new remailer

Thus, it might cost the Church of Scientology $10,000 in various fees to
get "account42666@c2.org" to stop remailing, but only $20 (or even less) to
create "account98410@c2.org."

Ideally, such remailers should require no involvement at all by the account
holder. Just a "start" command, by the account holder. (Not the site
administrator, as this could be construed as involvement by him.)

But an "instant remailer" (just add water) is needed. Recent questions here
on the list about what it takes to run a remailer may mean some advice is
needed.

Running a remailer function should never be thought of as being the same as
running a site. Most of the existing remailers are certainly not being run
on machines _owned_ by those running the remailers.


--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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On Sun, 19 May 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:

> I'm always surprised that this hasn't been happening; maybe it will when
> the new clients become available.
> 
> (Doesn't Sameer's system offer such accounts? Couldn't there be dozens of
> remailers based at c2.org? Of the 16 Type-1 remailers listed in one of
> Raph's recent reports, only 2 were at c2.org.)

I would be a little worried about many remailers being run at one site.  If
the ISP is ever shut down, then a lot of remailers will go down.  This would
be an ideal "choke point" for the feds.

> [...]
> 
> Ideally, such remailers should require no involvement at all by the account
> holder. Just a "start" command, by the account holder. (Not the site
> administrator, as this could be construed as involvement by him.)
> 
> But an "instant remailer" (just add water) is needed. Recent questions here
> on the list about what it takes to run a remailer may mean some advice is
> needed.
> 
> Running a remailer function should never be thought of as being the same as
> running a site. Most of the existing remailers are certainly not being run
> on machines _owned_ by those running the remailers.

Such a program would certainly be feasible.  I might try writing something
like it.

- -- Mark

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