Addressed to: Declan McCullagh <declan@eff.org> Cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com> = The shutdown of anon.penet.fi marks an end of an era -- and perhaps it was = inevitable. [--snip--] = But the closure isn't a permanent loss to the Net. The concept behind = deploying anonymous remailers is that [--snip--] = ...they're temporary and expendable -- if one government attacks a = remailer, another appears in another jurisdiction. [--snip--] it was = time for Helsingus' remailer to go offline. It had served its purpose. = Declan: I think you are missing the most import service that Johan Helsingius provided: a means of anonymous corres- pondence with services for victims of child abuse, domestic violence, alcholism, etc. *** people who needed to reach out to someone *** I fully subscribe to the Cypherpunk remailers, particu- lary MixMaster and Middleman, but they do not serve this purpose. However, maybe as part of social responsibility, we should provide one or more remailers with databases --and EXCLUDE addressing except to the help lines. and, of course, make it easy enough for the victims to request additional addresses. yes, it may take a little effort to upgrade the target addresses, etc. but it should be done. noone knows what the courts will rule on any matter of privacy with Bubba at the helm, but correspondence to shelters and the like has been adjudicated off-limits to FOI, etc. I will speak to several ISPs, and if one of them will permit me to accept the "responsibility," I will initiate one. I have no problem defending it legally. attila -- Now, with a black jack mule you wish to harness, you walk up, look him in the eye, and hit him with a 2X4 over the left eye. If he blinks, hit him over the right eye! He'll cooperate --so will politicians.