Frequently Asked Questions about Mixmaster Remailers [FAQ Verson 1.5 Sept 22 1995] by Lance Cottrell This document is a semi-technical discussion of Mixmaster remailers. I wrote this to answer questions often asked by new users of Mixmaster, and to explain why you would want to use Mixmaster remailers. At the end of this FAQ is a list of currently active Mixmaster remailers. What is the most recent version of Mixmaster? I am pleased to announce the release of Mixmaster 2.0.2 It contains many bug fixes. It also provides random remailer chaining. What is Mixmaster? Mixmaster is a new class of anonymous remailers. Inspired by the existing "cypherpunk" remailers and discussions on the Cypherpunk mailing list <cypherpunks@toad.com>, Mixmaster is the next generation in the evolution of remailer technology. What is an anonymous remailer? Quoting from Andre Bacard's remailer FAQ: An anonymous remailer (also called an "anonymous server") is a free computer service that privatizes your e-mail. A remailer allows you to send electronic mail to a Usenet news group or to a person without the recipient knowing your name or your e-mail address. For a non-technical introduction to remailers (not including Mixmaster), I recommend Andre's FAQ. It is posted regularly to: alt.privacy,alt.privacy.anon-server,alt.anonymous or you can get it by sending mail to: To: abacard@well.com Subject: Help1 Message: [Ignored] What do I need to use Mixmaster remailers? Unlike other remailers, you can't just make your own message and send it to the remailer. Mixmaster's security comes in part from using a special message format. The disadvantage of this is that you need a special program to make the message for you. Once you have that program (the client) remailing is as easy as running the program, and telling it which remailers you want to use. How do I get the Mixmaster client software? There are two sites for distribution. The first is my machine: http://obscura.com/~loki/Welcome.html/ or ftp to obscura.com and read /pub/remail/README.no-export The other is by anonymous ftp to jpunix.com You will have to follow the instructions there to get Mixmaster. Because Mixmaster contains cryptography, it may not be exported from the U.S and Canada. The reason for the circuitous route to download Mixmaster is to show my good faith efforts to keep Mixmaster from being exported. I have heard rumors that someone has already broken this law, and that Mixmaster is available from Europe. I do not approve of this and will not support that site. How do I get the software to run a Mixmaster remailer? The remailer software is available from the same sites as the client. But I only see one Mixmaster distribution? The same program is used for both the client and the remailer. The only difference is in the installation. For the client you just compile it and you are ready to go. For the remailer, you need to set up mail forwarding and cron jobs. What kinds of computers does Mixmaster run on? Unfortunately, not PCs or Macs. But it is being ported to those right now. Mixmaster runs under UNIX. The only machine it is known not to work on is Dec Alpha. It has been tested on Linux, FreeBSD, SunOS 4.1.3, Solaris, and several others. It has been compiled and tested on Netcom. If you use it on a machine or service not on this list, please let me know so I can add it. How does Mixmaster work, and why should I use it? You should use Mixmaster if you want the highest level of anonymity available, or if your are tired of building remailer messages your self. A discussion of how Mixmaster provides this level of security is beyond the scope of this FAQ, but I put an essay on the subject on my home page <http://obscura.com/~loki/remailer-essay.html> Does Mixmaster use PGP? No, Mixmaster uses the rsaref package from RSA. Mixmaster uses its own keys and key file formats. To add a key to a key ring, simply append the key to your key file using your favorite text editor. When Was Mixmaster Released? Mixmaster was originally released on an experimental basis in late 1994. There were only ever two remailers running Mixmaster 1.0. Mixmaster 2.0 was released on May 3, 1995. There are now 18 publicly available Mixmaster remailers. What is the latest version of Mixmaster? Version 2.0.2 was released on Sept 22, 1995. Mixmaster remailers can now accept messages containing multiple Mixmaster packets. Mixmaster can be told to choose a random set of remailers to chain your message through. It will now route multiple packet messages over independant chains. Several minor bugs were fixed. Version 2.0.1 was released on May 27, 1995. The only changes from 2.0 are some improvements in the documentation, and the inclusion of a more up to date list of remailers. What remailers run Mixmaster? The most recent list of remailers is available on my homepage, along with the remailer list and key file for Mixmaster. You can simply replace your old files with the ones from my site to keep up to date. These files are in ftp://obscura.com/pub/no-export/ They are also available by ftp. Here is the current list of Mixmaster remailers. Send mail to the remailer with the subject remailer-key to retrieve the remailers Mixmaster key. mix mixmaster@obscura.com vishnu mixmaster@vishnu.alias.net crown mixmaster@kether.alias.net knight mixmaster@aldebaran.armory.com robomix robo@c2.org hroller hroller@c2.org syrinx syrinx@c2.org replay remailer@replay.com hacktic remailer@utopia.hacktic.nl crynwr remailer@crynwr.com spook remailer@spook.alias.net flame remailer@flame.alias.net gondolin mixmaster@gondolin.org q q@c2.org Armadillo remailer@armadillo.com precipice mixmaster@mix.precipice.com anon mixmaster@anon.alias.net secrets secret@secret.alias.net Since this is a new FAQ, I am sure it is far from comprehensive. Watch this space for changes to the FAQ. It will be evolving rapidly for a while. Please send any questions you think should be here to: loki@obscura.com My outpost on the WWW is <http://obscura.com/~loki/Welcome.html>