Eli Brandt writes:
A cause of this is that the last remailer is the only agent in a position to see the message before delivery, so it can be argued that it should take responsibility for the decision to deliver. If you split the message into shadows, you avoid having anyone in this position. It can then be argued that nobody should pass along random noise from unknown parties... you can't solve political problems with technology, but you can make the politics increasingly absurd.
As I mentioned in a reply to Modemac I just sent, the recipient's MDA in this scheme reassembles the shadows/fragments into the intended message. So it would only be possible to send anonymous mail to recipients who have Message Gluing Agents on their accounts. I posit that such people are likely to be anonymity-friendly, and thus unlikely to complain vociferously about any anonymous mail they receive. This protocol generally could not be used to send anonymous mail to public fora -- mailing lists, newsgroups, etc. -- except some freewheeling places like cypherpunks which don't object to conventional anonymized mail anyway. However, I foresee a slight possibility that a split delivery scheme like this could fall into favor in some circles as a compromise <ahem> "solution". The requirement that the recipient take an active role in accepting anonymous mail could reduce the traditional spam/harassment complaints to a minimal level. -Futplex <futplex@pseudonym.com>