CNN.com on Remailers

[Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer]

http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/12/10/anonymous.e.mail.ap/index.html


SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- For years, anonymous e-mail has been a choice 
tool for whistle-blowers, human rights activists and undercover sources 
looking to protect themselves while imparting vital information.

Anonymous online communication could just as easily be used by terrorists 
to plot attacks or send threats. 

Yet little has changed since September 11 for users and operators of 
Internet-based anonymous e-mail servers, which launder messages by 
deleting identifying information, rendering them virtually untraceable. 

Now there are indications the servers have increased in number. 

While no evidence has been released linking such services to any criminal 
or terrorist conspiracy, experts fear governments could crack down on 
anonymous remailers -- or at least subject them to greater scrutiny. 

Law enforcement generally despises technology that leaves such cold 
trails, said Mark Rasch, former head of the Department of Justice's 
computer crimes unit and current vice president of cyberlaw at Predictive 
Systems. 

So far, U.S. and European authorities battling terrorism and cybercrime 
have apparently focused their surveillance elsewhere. The FBI and the 
National Security Agency, which monitors international telecommunications, 
declined to comment on what strategy, if any, they have for dealing with 
remailers.

"There's a lot more concern about border security and banking records," 
said Mike Godwin, a policy fellow at the Center for Democracy and 
Technology. 

That's just fine with the people who operate remailers. They don't do it 
for money, but rather share a common ideal of protecting online privacy. 

Len Sassaman, an e-mail security consultant who runs a remailer as a 
hobby, thinks any attempts to crack down would lead to more cropping up 
around the world. 


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