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Cyphernomicon 8.8

Anonymity, Digital Mixes, and Remailers:
Anonymous Message Pools, Newsgroups, etc.


    8.8.1. "Why do some people use message pools?"
           - Provides untracable communication
           - messages
           - secrets
           - transactions
           + Pr0duct Cypher is a good example of someone who
              communicates primarily via anonymous pools (for messages to
              him). Someone recently asked about this, with this comment:
             - "Pr0duct Cypher chooses to not link his or her "real
                life" identity with the 'nym used to sign the software he
                or she wrote (PGP Tools, Magic Money, ?).  This is quite
                an understandable sentiment, given that bad apples in the
                NSA are willing to go far beyond legal hassling, and make
                death threats against folks with high public visibility
                (see the threads about an NSA agent threatening to run
                Jim Bidzos of RSA over in his parking lot)." [Richard
                Johnson,  alt.security.pgp, 1994-07-02]
    8.8.2. alt.anonymous.messages is one such pool group
           - though it's mainly used for test messages, discussions of
              anonymity (though there are better groups), etc.
    8.8.3. "Could there be truly anonymous newsgroups?"
           - One idea: newgroup a moderated group in which only messages
              sans headers and other identifiers would be accepted. The
              "moderator"--which could be a program--would only post
              messages after this was ensured. (Might be an interesting
              experiment.)
           + alt.anonymous.messages was newgrouped by Rick Busdiecker,
              1994-08.
             - Early uses were, predictably, by people who stumbled
                across the group and imputed to it whatever they wished.
  

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