From: Anonymous <anon@anon.efga.org>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 05:10:17 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Remailers and ecash
Message-ID: <5e155060a3b43cba398de593edc98bd6@anon.efga.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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An anonymous brother wrote:
>Given: We want more (reliable) remailers
>       But someone has to pay for them
>
>Conjecture: New remailers can be financed by charging the users a fee per
>            message to use the remailers.
>
>   If a remailer charges a fee, the number of users will be reduced to
>   those who are willing to pay the fee.
>
>   When the number of users is reduced, the potential for traffic analysis
>   is increased, which reduces the value of the remailer.
>
>   If the value of the remailer is reduced, it will not be worth the cost
>   to many users, and those users will seek a less expensive, higher
>   traffic remailer.
>
>   Thus, the commercial remailer is forced to lower its prices until it is
>   unprofitable.
>
>Conclusion: Pay-per-message commecial remailers are not economically viable.

You know how the remailer operators do all their work now for free
because they believe in it?  And how all this software has been
written and given away because people believe in it?  Maybe some other
people will help pay for the maintenance of the remailers because they
believe it is the right thing to do.

Especially since it need not be forever.

And, I have to believe that out of the millions of well heeled
Internet users, there are enough privacy oriented people to pay for a
small remailer network, at the very least.  We just have to get the
ball rolling, that's all.

> - Pay a flat fee per month for remailer access

This is isormorphic to using ecash if you want to keep the messages of
each user disassociated from each other.

> - Everyone a remailer.  Remailers only accept messages from other
>   remailers.  To use remailers you must run a remailer.

I don't grow my own wheat, grind it up, and then make my own bread.  I
also prefer not to run a remailer.

> - Pay for access to an anonymous message pool

Interesting!

> - Sell cpu cycles in exchange for remailer access

If we use ecash, you can sell anything in exchange for remailer access.

Monty Cantsin
Editor in Chief
Smile Magazine
http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html
http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.html

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