Just another lurker, speaking up for the first time. . . . elee9sf@menudo.uh.edu (Karl Barrus) writes: [...first, an example of how to harrass without a remailer, then:] | I guess I'm one of those people who would get upset and blame the person | responsible for the action instead of software and/or technological | advancement for possible providing a means. While I tend to agree with you on this point, the fact remains that most people, by and large, are idiots. And while I'm a closet libertarian at heart, this one simple fact of life gives me pause on a number of issues where some potentially useful and/or fun object can be put to extreme nastiness without much (or any) knowledge or imagination: firearms, poisons, neurotoxins, gamma-ray sources, genetic-engineering kits . . . and anonymous remailers. | As Peter mentioned, payphones are already perfect for harrassment. So | is junk mail... and the crucial thing here is these services cost money. | I'm sure future remailers will incorporate digital cash and be a | pay-for-each-remail service. Oh, big deal. Payphone = 25c. Junk mail = 29c for *first-class* harrassment mail. :) Anonymous E-mail remailers = something much less, or free at the moment. Money is *not* the issue. Period. The reason anonymous remailers are not the same as payphones or junk mail is that the latter two leave tangible clues behind. While I'm not entirely happy with the US justice system, it seems to me that given society's current limitations, a police force of some sort is generally a good thing (if strict controls are kept on it). (Sorry, I realize that this is a bit of a fringe opinion in *this* group, but. . . .) Both payphones and mail leave tangible clues which can be investigated and traced by law enforcement authorities. Anonymous mail doesn't---at least, not without actually running a process or a logger on the machine itself. So they're *not* equivalent. | Chris also mentions concers about distributing porn and stuff like that | through remailers. I guess this could be done, but why give up the speed and | convenience of ftp, fsp, irc (dcc), and usenet posting? These services | distribute files faster and further than remailing. But not as anonymously, except in the case of Usenet postings. ---Ken McGlothlen mcglk@cpac.washington.edu mcglk@cpac.bitnet