Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1993 15:11-EST From: Marc.Ringuette@GS80.SP.CS.CMU.EDU I wonder if full crypto anonymity as we envision it will be stable? I'm very concerned about the problem of anonymous users intentionally flooding the network with garbage in order to bring it to its knees. Current practice, in the non-anonymous world, is to trace excess traffic to its source and stop it from being generated. This will no longer be possible when true anonymity is available. I think the real problem won't be flooding, but the bad name full crypto anonymity will get when lusers start abusing the system to send harrassing email and hide behind the protection of an anonymous remailer. At MIT, we're considering to start up an anonymous remailer, but with the proviso that if we get a complaint about a particular pseudonym is used to send harassing email, or email with threatening violence, and some other well-defined occassions, that we would reveal, to the proper authorities, the email address used for sending replies back. A warning to that effect would be sent back to an email address the first time the anonymous contact service saw that particular email address, and assigned it a pseudonym address for replies. This way, users would have the proper expectations of privacy. Ultimately, I think this is the only way that anonymous remailers will be able to function. Otherwise, the public outcry the first time one of these remailers are abused will cause these full remailers to be shutdown, or otherwise cut off from the net. - Ted