2. The anti-scientologists have caused many cypherpunks anonymous remailers to shut down via their egotistical misuse of them, viz. criminally posting copyrighted Co$ writings to Usenet. They did it knowing that the Co$ is likely to harrass the remailer operators, causing them to shut down and depriving everyone of their services.
This scenario is beginning to sound suspiciously similar each time it happens: an anonymous individual or individuals utilize a remailer in a way that's deemed abusive, certain individuals complain loudly, and the remailer (or mail2news gateway) either shuts down or blocks the affected newsgroup. Thus far I've seen it happen with the alt.religion.scientology, alt.smokers, and alt.syntax.tactical newsgroups. This is setting a bad precedent. It sends the message that you merely have to fabricate a little "abuse" through one or more remailers to get what you want -- the elimination of your opponents' platform to dissent without fear of retribution. Whether the abuse in any of the aforementioned instances was actually fabricated or not is immaterial. If it wasn't, it very could have been, with identical results in either case. The problem being, with an anonymous attack through a remailer and/or mail2news gateway, how do you identify the intended victim? Was it the NG or the remailer/gateway itself? The first two NGs have one striking similarity: both involve a product or service where those who stand to profit from it have recently been plagued with "whistle blowers" and "defectors" from among their ranks -- the CO$ and the tobacco industry. In both cases, those who've come forward and divulged secrets have reported harassment. I'm at a loss to understand the blocking of the third NG, alt.syntax.tactical, however, unless the intent was strictly punitive. I can't imagine anyone from a.s.t. coming forward to complain about "abuse"! That would be like complaining about foul language on alt.blasphemy. <g>