From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 23:11:47 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: anonymous remailers
Message-ID: <199702070711.XAA13689@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Why was this message (attached below) sent to the "Flames" list? (*) It
contains an assertion that the remailer operators are colluding to reveal
identities, and this is surely a fit topic for discussion.

(* I have temporarily subscribed to the Flames list to see just what it is
being filtered or censored by Sandy. I received this message, and it had
the header "Sender: owner-cypherpunks-unedited@toad.com," thus I surmise it
is a "Flames" message. It would help, by the way, if messages were more
clearly labelled by the Moderator as to which bucket he placed them in.)

While I don't believe this assertion about collusion by the remailer
operators is true, generally, this claim is clearly:

1. Not a flame, but an assertion of opinion.

2. Possibly not true, but it is not the job of the Moderator to decide on
truth.

3. Dealing with an important issue, to wit, the willingness (putatively) of
some remailer operators to talk amongst themselves to deal with "problems."

(If this is not a meaningful and important topic for the Cypherpunks list
to discuss, then what is?)

Here's the message:


At 10:22 PM -0500 2/6/97, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote:
>c.musselman@internetmci.com (Charley Musselman) writes:
>
>> C'punks --
>> 	When I told a friend about the alt.drugs.pot cultivation newsgroup
>> and suggested that he use an anonymous remailer to post to the group,
>> he laughed and said, "Who do you suppose runs the remailers?  ATF,
>> FBI, DEA, that's who!"  Gee, it makes sense to this paranoid.  Does
>> anyone know the answer?  Specifically, how can we choose a trusted
>> remailer?
>
>Even if the feds are not directtly involved, the so-called "cypher punk"
>remailers are run by people who should not be trusted.  Check out their
>remailer-operators list: it's full of announcements that some specific
>person posted something via the remailer that the operator didn't like.
>
>---
>
>Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
>Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps


Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I 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,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."