From: composer@beyond.dreams.org (Jeff Kellem)

On the cypherpunks mailing list, Strat wrote...

...

Rarely will you find a system administration staff more concerned with your privacy that the guys at Digital Express Group. As I recall, the set of username->real name mappings isn't even on machine readable media on the system.

Really? That's odd, especially for a unix box, which access.digex.com seems to be. And, as a matter of fact, it does seem to show "Robert Stratton" for the username of "strat". So, it seems they do maintain username to "real name" mappings (even if they allow the user to change the "real name" listed.

Digital Express doesn't require that the GECOS field of /etc/passwd contain real names, although they obviously allow it. (Finger jthomas@access.digex.net for my full name, as well as my PGP key :^) I seem to remember that the new user signup script they use explicitly gives you the option of signing up under a pseudonymn, although they'll check up on you by phone if you do (and presumably write your name in the Big Book at that point). I've seen quite a few public access Unix sites advertising "anonymous" accounts lately, especially after Julf's server went down. Joe