On Mon, 2 Oct 2000, Steve Furlong wrote:

Does anyone have any suggestions for setting up an anonymous remailer?

You can get the source for the current version of Mixmaster (2.9b23) via anonymous FTP from mixmaster.anonymizer.com. Send mail to remailer-operators-request@anon.lcs.mit.edu for info on the remop mailing list. There's also a Mixmaster-specific list: mix-l-subscribe@jpunix.com. If you run into trouble during install, mail either of the lists with your questions.

I'd like a HOWTO, suggesting software to use and how to set it up.

There isn't one, yet. It's being worked on. Slowly.

I'm pretty clueless as to what would be needed, but I have a FreeBSD box and a DSL line with no usage restrictions. If need be I can set up another box, dedicated to this purpose. I should have the means once I get whapped with a cluestick.

You're set with what you have. In theory, maintaining a separate remailer box may insulate the rest of your hardware should LEOs come a'knocking some day, but I wouldn't count on it. (I also wouldn't worry about this scenario too much.)

I'd also like discussions of real-world problems that people have found. What kind of things cause you to think about shutting down your remailer? Technical abuse, legal difficulties, or what?

Make damned sure you're on good terms with your ISP and whoever handles your DNS. Your remailer may get shut down when you're not looking. That said, I've never given serious consideration to shutting down my remailer. It's certainly been a headache on numerous occasions, but so are many things. Like children. "Technical abuse" has been only a minor annoyance for me. I've received several letters from PIs ranging from demands to reveal a user's identity, to simple inquiries on how remailers work. I also have a small collection of letters from standard lawyers, and from Scientologist ones as well. I frequently receive notes informing me that Such-and-Such Police Department has been informed of my "crimes," but I tend to ignore those. Get used to receiving a lot of hate mail. In all the time I've been running a remailer, I've gotten one thank you note, and countless threats. Of course, said threats are frequently so poorly written, you may find they make an attractive addition to your refrigerator door. The real trick for me has been figuring out when to reply to an inquiry/complaint, and when to forward it to /dev/null.* It's quite possible that you'll receive tens of complaints of "abuse" every day. They'll range anywhere from illiterate demands to cancel "Ann Onymous's subscrivtion" for making an off-topic post in rec.pets.cats, to notification that "Interpol, the FBI, and my brother, the cop," are all coming to get you...for something. I'm particularly fond of the "crimes" of which I'm frequently accused by these complainers. My personal favourite involved an astute AOLer who informed me that "accessory to acomplise harassment" is not looked upon favourably in Washington State. I laughed for days. Separating the kooks and the nitwits from the legitimate (i.e. legal) threats is just something you'll have to learn. It should be fairly easy for you -- you read cypherpunks. * At least two Cypherpunk regulars have suggested piping all abuse@ mail off to /dev/null. While this is nice in theory, it could be disastrous for a DSL subscriber with a toothy ToS agreement.