-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- From: Wei Dai <weidai@eskimo.com>
[My idea for ATM mixes] The problem here is that you'll have to do a RSA operation on EACH packet. Pretty hard on the CPU...
Yes, good point. It might be possible to use a stream model where the separate packets which make up a stream use the same conventional key. This allows the various packets which make up a stream to be identified as such by outsiders, but still if there are a large number of virtual streams going through the network at one time it should be possible to confuse the streams pretty well. ("I've got a crazy idea. Let's cross the streams!" -- Ghostbusters). Then you only need to do the RSA work at setup time, and you need a fast streaming cypher during the conversation. This is how the streaming-packet encryption models like IPSP or Netscape's SSL seem to work.
I think it may be more useful rather than speaking of "true" anonymity to think of factor-of-N anonymity. This reflects the bandwidth costs. I would guess that, if you have a packet-based video converencing system, that today you could probably get factor-of-2 anonymity with custom hardware, and perhaps even more than that.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "factor-of-N". I only used "true" to distiguish it from "trivial" anonymity (such as using a pay phone). Of course, anonymity, like security, can only be relative.
By "factor-of-N" I meant anonymity where you can only pin the source of a message down to one of N possibilities. It appears to me that many of the costs will be a function of N. It will be relatively easier to cloak your source as one of say 50 possibilities than to make it any of one in a million. This is why I suggested that factor-of-2 anonymity would be the easiest. The DC-Net concept would allow two users to share a cryptographically strong pseudo-random stream, and each of them to XOR their video output with the random stream; then these modified outputs from each of them are themselves XOR'd together to produce the joint output. As long as only one sends at a time, the resulting stream is their output, but it is impossible for an outsider to determine which one is sending. The hardware requirements seem quite modest and perhaps would be adequate today even for video.
[My points about limitations on suitability of anonymity]
This is all very true. I guess I'm just lamenting the loss of my ealier, more naive dream that one day everyone will be anonymous (read pseudonymous), and that physical and digital identities will be totally seperate.
I don't think we would really expect everyone to be anonymous all of the time. In our personal lives, with friends and family, it doesn't seem appropriate to expect anonymity (although my earlier quotes from Greg Bear's sci fi story suggest differently). But still I think that for people who desire it and are willing to pay the prices, anonymity would indeed be available in many or most electronic communications. So if that is your desire you should be able to achieve it. Hal -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQBVAwUBLw9Q1xnMLJtOy9MBAQEhPwH+KSYD4KhA1HOUxqOzdb2WdMuq0i1XTFzH fKMnejTqlKVbFfEnQqfHukwKpH5nFpuN7towJ1o98aGqT1ACxbSjpQ== =2mxw -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----