This was, well, interesting. As a result of the recent loss of many remailers, I started looking for a local (to me) ISP that would offer me an anonymous account, and/or a shell account. Nobody would offer me a shell account except for these people, and here's what they had to say about an anonymous account... Received: by alpha.c2.org for clouds@alpha.c2.org From gjung@igateway.net Thu May 30 06:33:10 1996 The policy is set and I am not going to argue with you about it. I explained that we do not feel that anyone needs to be doing things that they do not want their name attached to on the Internet, and for that reason do not offer anonymous accounts. You have offered no reason to change the policy. I regret that we are unable to offer service to you. ---------- From: The Dreamer[SMTP:clouds@alpha.c2.org] Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 1996 5:32 PM To: gjung@igateway.net Subject: anonymity/corporate policy
Corporate policy dictates that we do not offer anonymous accounts. It is corporate belief that there should be no reason anyone needs anonymity on the net
That's an, er, interesting policy. Although there are a great number of arguments for anonymity - and privacy - I won't try to persuade an obviously uninterested audience. (That's you.) I'd like to see the relevant corporate policies; are they available at www.igateway.net or elsewhere? Also, is there a more precise rationale behind the decision? I'd very much like to do business with you, but if you don't want my money, that's cool. d.