Anonymizing Scam

[John Young]

There are a variety of ways to anonymize surfing and email
besides anonymizer services and remailers. Government
agencies likely use all these. 

Reasons for the agencies to use anonymizers and remailers 
is to learn how they work and to influence operators by purchases, 
complaints and praise, and to spit in the soup, that is, to raise 
doubts about the services promises of confidentiality.

The same reasons apply for subscribing to this list, for cultivating
informants, for spoofing identities, for creating dissension
among dissenters, for panicking the populace, for promising
impossible assurance.

Criticism of anonymizers and remailers and this list is a healthy
as criticizing any reputable, and disreputable, private or publice
means of communication.

Fending off criticism by saying past performance and reputation
deserves trust is a hoot and is also a hackneyed reply of someone
who is concealing betrayal, or to put it more politely, has not
yet learned how to earn trust continuously rather than bank it
for unearned profit.

Untested trust is no trust at all. And those who most often promise
trust are not to be trusted, whether highly reputable individual, 
government of the free world, or very best friend.

Paranoia is no defense against being suckered any more than
being a hermit, and believing you are a trusted insider of a
trustworthy group is suckerdom par excellance.

Dropping your guard: don't. Especially with those of impeccable
reputation.