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Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 17:37:58 -0400 From: ghio@temp0120.myriad.ml.org (Matthew Ghio) Subject: Re: Remailers and ecash

Anonymity is one thing which you cannot have without also giving it to others.

This isn't strictly true. I can send an email from an anon account to my friend Bob. At this point I know who I am, I know who Bob is, Bob knows who Bob is, *but* Bob doesn't know who I am. Clearly I obtained anonymity without anyone else gaining it. The only time that complete anonymity is obtained is if both sender and recipient are using anon accounts.

In order for a remailer operator to afford himself the benefits of anonymous communication by establishing and using a remailer, he must allow others to use the remailer also. This is why it is economical (for some people) to operate free remailers.

Well a single user is going to make traffic analysis a bit simplistic. Though this reducion to absurdity does serve to make a clear point about anonymity and traffic level. Clearly large traffic flows are required to maintane the anonymity for any usable length of time.

It has been suggested that it would be possible to increase the number of remailers by providing financial incentives to the remailer operators in the form of a small fee per message relayed. While that tactic might achieve its stated purpose, it would simeultaneously reduce the number of remailer users to those who were willing to pay the fee.

Only if the fee was something they would notice, milli-cent fees are not something most people will notice. I think you are unwittingly getting near the mark however. In short your comment about incentives to the operators, include in there the users and you have a winning combination. The question should be expanded thusly: What would motivate an average consumer to use an anonymous remailer? Clearly simple anonymity or writing nasty letters to Grandma anonymously are not going to motivate most folks irrespective of cost - they simply have no interest in such activities. So, the question becomes: What besides raising hell anonymously, laundering money, and defeating merchant purchase traffic analysis are commercial anonymous remailers good for?