should we use same nym on multiple servers?

Timothy C. May tcmay at got.net
Tue Feb 20 00:25:38 PST 1996


At 6:45 AM 2/20/96, Anonymous wrote:
>  With the additional nym servers coming on the scene comes the
>question of whether or not to "claim" our alpha.c2 nym on the other
>ones, too.  E.g., if we are foobar at alpha.c2.org, should we also become
>foobar at nym.gondolin.org and foobar at nym.alias.net, too?

You know, shalmaneser at alpha.c2.org sent me a message demanding that he be
given the name shalmaser at black.net on my system, for exactly this reason.

I told him to fuck off.

Now he's threatening to sue me. Do you folks think this is right?

(More to the point, this example shows that whatever "anonymous" thinks
about "claims" on nyms, it's pointless. Even if _some_ nyms are apparently
persistent across nymservers, all it takes is the possibility of this not
to be so for the fiction to collapse. The best way to prove that
"shalmaneser at alpha.c2.org" is really the same True Name (or in alliance
with) as "foobar at black.net" is to show that either can read the messages
encrypted to the other.)


--Tim May

Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay at got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."










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