From: gtoal@an-teallach.com (Graham Toal)
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 93 06:50:58 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: No Subject
Message-ID: <199312161445.OAA21440@an-teallach.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Keyservers and anonymous Mailings
Newsgroups: mail.cypherpunks
In-Reply-To: <199312160710.AA28701@access3.digex.net>
Organization: An Teallach Limited

In article <199312160710.AA28701@access3.digex.net> you write:
:If PKP is going to employ this tactic, it seems that even the 
:'new' keyservers that run as simple databases and thus are not a 
:copyright question are subject to harassment in the least, even if 
:unfounded.  If this is true, would anonymous remailing provide a 
:buffer of some type?

First of all, I wrote the new replacement keyserver and I happen
to know it isn't even released yet (except to a handful of people
for the purposes of testing portability and ease of installation etc),
so it is not *possible* that the new sites have been harassed, and I
think you should wait until it happens before you start worrying about
it.  As I've said before, all these keyservers will be doing is
*publishing* information, and that's a protected right in the US.

Now, if pkp choose to start chasing down people who publish their
keys and asking them if they have a license (assuming they're in
the US and need one), that's a different thing altogether, but 
that could happen at the moment given that the actual keys are
up for ftp all over already.  A keyserver that doesn't patent (or
copyright?  Who told you that?) infringe *cannot* be closed down
even if the people whose keys are published *are* harassed.

Anyway, the keyservers have to exist for the benefit of both ViaCrypt
customers and European FreePGP users.

G