From: Toto <toto@sk.sympatico.ca>
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 08:49:26 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: CypherPunk Prophets / Voices Barfing In The Wilderness / ***CRYPTO RELATED---> Remailers <---CRYPTO RELATED***
In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19970403133700.00693cb8@flash.net>
Message-ID: <3345308A.6DC3@sk.sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


rocket3@ibm.net wrote:
> Hello!  I wanted to share something very important.

> The God of heaven sent his only Son to this earth
> to let us have a way to be right with God,

  I hate (love!!!) to say, "I told you so.", but...

  I realize that Tim May is the CypherPunk Prophet, foretelling
developments that actually have something remotely to do with
crypto, whereas I, on the other hand, am just a Voice Barfing
In The Wilderness, drunkenly rambling on about God-knows-what
(which, incidentally, reminds me what I meant to say).

  During the height of the "XXX_Your Biased Term_Here XXX" 
experiment on the list, my shotgun delusions led me to claim
that the "Big $$$" spams were just a forerunner of things
to come, with the real fruitcakes coming out of the woodwork
when they realized that they could spam us in the name of
Jesus, or Free Willy, or their brother, Joe, who needs a new
kidney.

  Sure enough, I got my first 'God and Hellfire' spam today,
along with the usual 'Betty Big-Boobs XXX Pics' email. (So I
forwarded 'Betty Big-Boobs' to him, in an attempt to slow him
down by keeping at least one of his hands busy.)

  Then there is 'Computer Jesus', whose friends call him 'Mac'...
> To: List-Abuse <list-abuse@clio.lyris.net>
> Subject: Re: Puzzling Response from juno.com
> several mailing lists whose sole
> charters are evangelizing the Macintosh. Once a message like "Write to
> Juno and tell them that they need to support the Mac!" is posted to one
> of these lists, the flood of mail from evangelical Mac users can reach
> quite a pitch. And I happen to know that Juno was recently targeted for
> just such a campaign.

  I'm still waiting for the one that reads,
"Make Big $$$ Using A 'Mac' To Tell People About Jesus's Big Boobs"
and I know it is only a matter of time before lonely losers, not 
content to bother only the CypherPunks, as I do, will be sending
out 250,000 missives informing everyone that they are having a
"Bad Hair Day".

  I notice that some of the remailer threads on the list are 
taking note of the fact that there needs to to be provisions 
for a variety of remailers capable of doing something more than
merely blocking source-specific abuse, which can open a can
of worms leading to a remailer resembling CyberSitter.
  There need to be remailers capable of being easily customized
to allow only mail 'to' specific sights, such as Crisis Hotlines,
or Whistle Blowers Anonymous, or Send A Congressman To Jail.

  There is need for a remailer which those with individual needs
can easily adapt to meet that need. Then they will be promoting
the remailer in a way that works best for them.
  For instance, there are mental health mailing lists where many
people lurk in the background, afraid to participate in discussions
because they fear discrimination, etc., if the wrong people find
out they are on the list. (I know of one case where an individual
lost the security clearance she needed to keep her job, because 
she was on a mental health support list for her child's benefit,
not her own.)
  This, to me, is a good example of the type of service that 
some remailer operators are eager to provide, but end up 
getting fed up or shut down over the bullshit, instead.

  The more options for instituting use of customized remailers,
the more functional they will be to a wide range of people, and
the more exposure/use they will get.
  Majordomo, for instance, provides for such things as disabling
the 'who' command, to protect identities on medical related lists,
etc., or only allowing subscribers to post.
  If a list operator can program a remailer to send only to their
own list, then they can make it a subscriber and allow people who
fear being discovered to post their concerns through it anonymously,
and advertise its existence in places where those most likely to
need it will find out about the service.

  A good way to promote remailer use is to allow them to be adapted
to purposes that a wider range of people have a specific interest in.
  "Crisis Line Anonymous Remailer" is instantly recognizable to a 
certain segment of people as something that applies to them, as is
"Government Abuse Anonymous Hotline Remailer".

  The current remailer threads on the list contain some excellent
ideas about how to develop remailers that are something other than
generic spammers. I hope that these threads result in new generations
and varieties of remailers that will spread their use by virtue of
being functional to those who really need them for addressing serious
issues in their personal life and in society at large.
-- 
Toto
"The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre"
http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html