[ I see that the original has been forwarded to cypherpunks, so I'll also send my response there. -russ ] Boffo writes:

I was in the federal building coffee shop in Reston, Va. yesterday when I overheard a conversation between what appeared to be two FBI agents discussing a sting operation involving Mixmaster. Hearing the word "mixmaster" naturally caused my ears to perk up and I listened further.

It appears that the FBI has coerced a mixmaster remailer operator into cooperating with them in a sting operation to catch remailers when they forward email pertaining to pornography, pedophilia, and copy-written software.

Uh-oh! I'd better shut down my remailer, but fast, based on an unsubstantiated rumor. Especially one that makes little sense. Why do you need a sting? All you have to do is use a single remailer, and send the mail from yourself, to yourself. You know the source, destination, and who handled it. IF a court can be convinced that forwarding email containing illegal materials is the same as asking to receive email containing illegal materials, then ALL of our butts are toast.

My questions are a) is it possible to perform this type of monitoring on a mixmaster remailer and, b) what is the identity of the cooperating remailer operator?

This concerns me greatly as I use remailers to privatize my important email regularly and I don't want my identity or my email compromised because of a "spook in cypherpunks clothing".

You fool. If you use remailers regularly, then YOU ARE KNOWN TO THE SPOOKS. Face facts. We know that the FBI spends a minimum of $10,000,000 each year (count the wiretaps, multiply by agents and do the math) just for telephone wiretaps. Computer wiretaps are a LOT CHEAPER. -russ <nelson@crynwr.com> http://www.crynwr.com/~nelson Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | PGP ok 11 Grant St. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | Flushing, NY. Not just a suburb, Potsdam, NY 13676 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | it's a good idea in general.