From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 05:07:27 +0800
To: Jeff Burchell <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Continuing spam from vulis
In-Reply-To: <10948.865019869@zelkova.qualcomm.com>
Message-ID: <v03102802afb4ec9eeaff@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



(I've removed 9 of the addresses from this response.)

At 12:42 PM -0700 5/30/97, Jeff Burchell wrote:

>I have previously talked with the operator of the cypherpunks list (this
>was about 2 months ago when someone else was abusing the remailer to post

And just who is "the operator of the cypherpunks list"? If this was about 2
months ago, it would've been well after the Cypherdiaspora, so there would
be even less of a concept of the "operator" than there was before. And why
would he or she or they have anything to say about blocking remailers?

>trash to that list). At that time, I offered the standard good will
>gesture that remailer operators can offer: "Would you like me to block the
>list, so this remailer won't send anything to it".  Because of the nature
>of anonymous remailers, this is about the extent of the action that I can
>take.
>
>To this, I recieved a very firm "no!" (cypherpunks is of course a list
>where people do have good reasons to use remailers).  Because of that, I
>_WON'T_ block cypherpunks, until I am instructed to by May, Gilmore,
>Hughes, et.al. Period.  This holds true for all mailing lists. I need to
>have authorization from the list maintainer to block the list.

Neither May nor Gilmore nor Hughes have any say over blocking remailers,
blocking use of remailers, etc.

>-Jeff
>Operator... Huge.cajones.com
>
>P.S.  Besides... aren't ad hominum attacks on Tim May a Cypherpunks
>      tradition?

I mean no disrespect to Jeff, but even getting involved in the slightest
way in debates about remailer traffic and what should/should not be blocked
is what can only be called a "conceptual error."

Ideal mixes, which today's remailers are of course only an approximation
of, do not pass and reject messages based on content, or even on sources
and destinations. The ideal mix is a soulless black box executing certain
protocols.

(Practicality may dictate that a remailer place certain minimal, and
hopefully publicized, constraints on the process, e.g., no sending to
whitehouse.gov, no sending to hundreds of addresses, whatever.)

--Tim May


There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
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."