I was shocked, *shocked* to receive the following disturbing message in my email! I've removed the headers because *surely* they must be from some forger trolling for hate mail directed by the outraged public to some innocent member of our community, for surely Nobody would put their own name on this kind of material. O, <expletive deleted> tempora! O, <expletive deleted> mores! ~~Request-Remailing-To: cypherpunks@lne.com
I often talk about "re-commenters" (hyphen added to emphasize the "commenter" part). If I get mail, or letters, or e-mail, and then pass it along to my friends or others, WHERE IN THE FIRST does it say I need permission from government?
You're absolutely right, no law could stop you from being a re-commenter. However, you would be liable for everything you said. This would mean that you pay the penalty for any illegal message, any obscenity, any violation of copyright.
In short being a re-commenter buys you absolutely nothing. Any message so innocuous that it could be delivered by a re-commenter (like this one, for example) does not really need anonymity.
Including this one?:
Hey, Nomen, I just got this message. Any idea what it means?
pQuusuSljjFEVQYWgG/YM+3V2K3+9lptlWVBr3axwLr3iHqmcDQzGEnTASI/k2oy WSkeNUb2W2nNREAe0DhRMPJ5n44RTk+HOH6TLUtxCyez1UaAvtu7kdGUgk9/zSLZ V/HXFANMv23abUS/VCBFSTQz2nLZC/BDy5KhkndAL/ugL9/eqgiPr3mMrWCBPXoi GdG78lSIrFAzo0Gw5pzUOj3NJiew1a+Sjp2iJCuIJbXxhxeYZMqUNU9ZxEVLHtV5 fpljlUtrUE+AZfIwFZeW3RIYSuc5hgo8Rv/qzapU8NSlBkT0NH6riKV2dx66RvvJ z44/EQrBX5FmbET4/YQKRQXaxgN0+e9ZXXwQg7B8y/b1RW4J9aslTOl8Emc6uokz SqKlB8ACdu/I6LczYB2LBMr7bUsh0ty1oWUsv8vEouNhEYEbkBZL3vdvrw6dBg8e hzFExtj9HgMvkVIE9E91CD0= =EYfM