From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 10:50:12 PDT
To: lrh@crl.com (Lyman Hazelton)
Subject: Tuna fish spams a growing fact of life
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.87.9408021022.A26442-0100000@crl.crl.com>
Message-ID: <199408021750.KAA26146@netcom12.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Lyman Hazelton wrote:

> a message for that person into the anon service.  If not, it simply 
> ignores the message.  There are LOTS of silent listeners on the list and 
> it could be ANY of them.  Stoping this is not going to be easy.  I don't 
> suppose Julf@penet.fi would be interested in recording the name of the 
> site where all these requests are originating?  Any other ideas?
> 

Stopping attacks like this will not be easy:

* the attacker is using alt.test (as I recall) to report
results...this is precisely the "anonymous pool" we argue for, for
untraceability.

* if he's as smart as I suspect, he's also bouncing the messages to
penet through Cypherpunks-type remailers first. This makes it harder
(a little harder now, with our fragile remailers, *much* harder
someday) for Julf to "record the name of the site where all these
requests are originating."

The fragility of the Net exposes it to spamming attacks. And I think
Julf agrees that a rewrite of the code at his site is overdue....he's
mentioned this here, and is seeking donations.

(Personally, I think the "volunteer" aspect is at fault here: tens of
thousands of users use it for "free," while the software can't be
rewritten or maintained adequately. Why not a commercial service? And
the same arguments apply, as always, for the Cypherpunks model of
remailers.)

--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.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."