From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 00:33:51 +0800
To: Mark Grant <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Forgeries are your Friend
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SOL.3.96.970522041838.26834D-100000@sirius.infonex.com>
Message-ID: <v03007800afaa2d1c4b3a@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 3:27 AM -0800 5/22/97, Mark Grant wrote:
>> Spam is interfering with the *real* victim's (the sendmail operator's)
>> ability to provide customer service; in a very real and fiscally
>> damaging way.
>
>It's worse than that; some asshole has just sent out a spam with a forged
>return address at $$$$@unicorn.com. There is absolutely nothing I can do
>to stop people sending such forgeries, yet my mailbox is about to explode
>with megabytes of complaints and mailbombs. I hate to think what kind of
>mess I'll have to deal with when I get back from my holiday next week.

There are some advantages to having posts and messages forged in one's name.

Think: plausible deniability in a courtroom.

"And can you _prove_ that the article you claim my client sent to Mr. Bell
was actually written by him, and was not one of the many forgeries in my
client's name?"

I'm pretty glad I never started PGP-signing my posts, actually. I've
exchanged messages at various times with various people, and the
"non-ironclad" authorship of some of these articles may turn out to be
useful. I can always claim an article was one of Detweiler's forgeries. Or
one of the more sophisticated forgeries now being seen.

(Somewhat worrisome to me in this witch-hunting atmosphere was a special
mailing list of "activists" I was invited to join a couple of years ago. I
did join this list, but left after various acts of bombings and vengeance
were discussed. I now suspect that a couple of the most extreme
"provocateurs" were BATFags and other goons.)

--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."