From: lcottrell@popmail.ucsd.edu (Lance Cottrell)
Date: Fri, 27 Jan 95 01:14:49 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: link encryption and anonymous interactivity (Was: "Subway" remai
Message-ID: <ab4e6664070210049f4e@[137.110.24.250]>
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>This gives me an idea.  Imagine a server that allows you to open a
>low bandwidth (let's say around 100 cps, in order to reduce costs)
>link-encrypted telnet session with it, and provides you with a number
>of services, for example a link-encrypted talk session with another
>user.  You'll need to maintain the link 24 hours a day to defend
>against statistical analysis, and of course you can chain a number of
>these servers together in a way similiar to chaining remailers.
>
>This scheme seems to provide untracibility while getting around the
>latency cost problem of remailers, thus allowing users to talk to each
>other in real time, anonymously.
>
>Wei Dai
>

I like this. One complication comes to mind with chaining. You can not set
up the whole chain at once. That would give it all away. In some sense you
are only mixed with other people who build these "chain links" at the same
time. Since you are only likely to build one or two (once built there is no
reason to take it down), you want to build it very slowly to allow many
links to be built out of the machine you are connected to before you build
your link out the next machine in the chain.

Also, if other people take their chains down, you must too, or I suspect
that there will be some information pointing to the only chain not to have
changed (this would only be statistical). I am not so sure about this last
argument though.

                -Lance Cottrell
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--------------------------------------------------
Lance Cottrell  who does not speak for CASS/UCSD
loki@nately.ucsd.edu
PGP 2.6 key available by finger or server. Encrypted mail welcome.
Home page http://nately.ucsd.edu/~loki/
Home of "chain" the remailer chaining script.
For anon remailer info, mail remailer@nately.ucsd.edu Subject: remailer-help

"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra.  Suddenly
it flips over, pinning you underneath.  At night the ice
weasels come."
                        --Nietzsche