From: Jay Campbell <edge@got.net>
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 95 16:43:16 PDT
To: Kevin L Prigge <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: HTTP anon proxy pointers
Message-ID: <199510092356.QAA23573@you.got.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 12:00 PM 10/9/95 -0500, Kevin L Prigge wrote:
>I seem to recall that someone was working on an anonymous http
>proxy a couple months ago. Pointers would be appreciated. Thanks.

We had discussed this at the last Bay Area Cypherpunks meeting (BTW,
when/where is the next??), and came to the conclusion that it would be
technologically simple, but load inefficient, to implement in a large scale
at this point.

The main problem with anonymous http (or telnet, talk, etc) lies in the
sheer amount of information being transferred, and the even larger amount of
noise an anonymous site would have to generate to defeat traffic analysis. A
mail message is usually under a few K, but with these larger systems you
move into the multiple meg realms; to hide a single individual's (ie,)
3K/sec stream, a provider would have to generate many times that in cover
traffic. We can force traffic to the user from network speeds to slow down
to modem speeds, but that doesn't help the inbound crunch at all. Web sites
don't generally generate much inbound traffic, but when coupled with dialups
(such as in my case) this could lead to bad service to the local modem users.

The good news is, with multiple anon redirectors bouncing traffic between
them to further confuse an attacker, the number of users can grow an order
of magnitude without any additional load, since the streams are hiding in
the midst of other streams and far less random cover traffic needs to be
generated.

Software-wise, an anonymous http scheme could be implemented with a standard
proxy server with remote host access restrictions and log analysis tools to
charge the appropriate individuals for their usage (a la anon email postage
stamp rolls). Down the road, cover traffic, ecash payment, encryption, and
other nifty toys can be added.

If anyone on this list is in need of anonymous http right now (even to
tinker with it) I'd be willing to set up a free-use proxy, as long as you
don't bring our server or our pipe to their knees. Mail me (privately if you
wish) with the individual IPs/names of the hosts you'd be coming in from -
no blanket domain names, please, unless they're your own personal network.
If I see enough interest I'll have a proxy up by next week.

Have I missed anything?
--
   Jay Campbell - Regional Operations Manager
   -=-=-=-=-=-=-  Sense Networking (Santa Cruz Node) 
   edge@got.net   "Shoot the Fruit Loop"            
 
"On the Information Superhighway, I'm the guy 
  behind you in this morning's traffic jam leaning on his horn."