The example given (someone soliciting an act of questionable legality) is a perfect application for the SASE remailer that I've been developing. I presented it at a phys-meeting a few months back, and have been working on coding it sporadically since then.
I was thinking about this just yesterday...
The idea is that you have an address block that encodes the information on how to get a message to you. This is like a self addressed envelope. The envelope can specify multiple hops through remailers, but is encrypted in layers so only the next hop is revealed at each remailer.
However, rather than rewrite an entire mailer system from scratch, might I propose that we ad an extra command to the cypherpunks remailers that would allow a person to tell the remailer NOT to throw away the the header information. This would allow a person to create an encrypted block to put at the top of their message telling the remailer to pass all header information through to the recipient. Example: :: Remailer-Command: Header-Intact :: Request-Remailing-To: pat@tstc.edu The user encrypts this whole block and tells the remote user to put this at the header of thier reply message. Example: == place at the top of your message text and remove this line == :: Encrypted: PGP -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: 2.2 hEwCKlkQ745WINUBAf0f5D1bOXX333w08UAU5jVP5WeDblGnlD7Cwx9Q0fxwZcG6 sm+8f1S4zU8AIn0j6Dfmt8i7+BOcdFfjXmscU+oXpgAAAFse+dms+6BMBntqJh56 q4DBpHq6aMTJH1AT0nolOOnAOTxtPmSpolkKFYyXVbwKk0W8q9PpmX0PDBeodoGY hi2BtkXRMTW9bzbzRLE6Q0YoOsWVOxLKx8FM2M/T =ciKz -----END PGP MESSAGE----- == place message text below this line and remove this line == In effect, a self-addressed envelope. Half of the functionality is available in the remailers currently. -- "I'm not being irrational, I just know to much." - Tim Allen -- Pat Hykkonen, N5NPL Texas State Technical College at Waco Internet: {pat,postmaster,root}@tstc.edu Instructional Network Services Packet: N5NPL@WD5KAL.#CENTX.TX.USA.NA 3801 Campus Dr. Waco, Tx 76705 Public keys available! ** 1984 + 10 ** V:(817) 867-4830 F:(817) 799-2843