jpb@gate.net wrote:
I am concerned about the ethics of having a paymailer feed into the free remailer soup - how would their operators react if I'm effectively making money (no matter how little) off of them?
I can't speak for others, but making money off remailing is a GOOD THING. If other remailers wish to give their services away for free, so be it. There will likely be an ecology of remailers with different fee schedules, different technical capabilities, and different policies. Personally, I think that "free remailers" will always be with us, but will come and go, as spammers and the like abuse them. The invisible hand will of course choose some and reject others. And a for-pay remailer is not making money "off them" (the other remailers), as the paying customer is the one who is making the choice of which remailers to use, which to pay digital postage on, etc. [Comment: I see disdainful comments here about the profit motive, about for-pay services, etc. I urge folks to carefully think about this point. Services that are "free" are actualy paid for by someone, in various ways and for various motivations. Some things are worth paying for, some are not. Any customer who pays for remailing has made an uncoerced, voluntary decision that his interests are better serviced by paying for remailing than by using a free remailer. Sounds fair to me.] --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Cypherpunks list: majordomo@toad.com with body message of only: subscribe cypherpunks. FAQ available at ftp.netcom.com in pub/tc/tcmay