New Post
Pittsburgh newspapers have received bomb threats targeting the U of Pitt. And investigators know a remailer called Mixmaster is being used to send the email messages. Experts are saying it's as close to anonymous as one can get.
Discussion on:
View:
Show:
Exactly the same effect.
multiple re mailing is like going to a nearby town, dropping in the package with a letter and then having the PO at different place stamp and mail it. (or a distant town if your the unibomber)
Happens all the time with people who want first day issue stamps from the official release or a specialty stamp like "Valentine" from Valentine Nebraska
To get a North Pole postmark on your envelope(s), simply address and stamp your envelope(s) as you normally would. Then put them all in a bigger envelope and send them to:
North Pole Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
4141 Postmark Drive
Anchorage, AK 99530-99998
So nothing new to see, just a new twist on an old issue.
Privacy and freedom out weight a perceived improvement in security in my mind.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither" Benjamin Franklin
multiple re mailing is like going to a nearby town, dropping in the package with a letter and then having the PO at different place stamp and mail it. (or a distant town if your the unibomber)
Happens all the time with people who want first day issue stamps from the official release or a specialty stamp like "Valentine" from Valentine Nebraska
To get a North Pole postmark on your envelope(s), simply address and stamp your envelope(s) as you normally would. Then put them all in a bigger envelope and send them to:
North Pole Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
4141 Postmark Drive
Anchorage, AK 99530-99998
So nothing new to see, just a new twist on an old issue.
Privacy and freedom out weight a perceived improvement in security in my mind.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. He who gives up freedom for safety deserves neither" Benjamin Franklin
Unless you are extremely careful, physical evidence can be had.
And, I am not sure how Mr. Franklin's message applies here. Can you help me?
And, I am not sure how Mr. Franklin's message applies here. Can you help me?
even if they provide a avenue of risk. People have called in bomb threats via public phones, thus a "Dark side" of public phones...
By pointing at a "dark side" of email you imply that the anonymous services should be rectified. I won't put words in your mouth as to how to do so. Other agencies are working on that very issue. Wonderfully its under the auspices of the US patriot act, an act that has little patriotism and much government control.
Back to tracing, if the email leaves our borders then the email is traceable.
The level of effort to trace it is too much for a local PD, however the NSA and by extension the Dept. of Homeland security sure can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy
I won't go to the level of conspiracy theory and say that interior email systems are compromised to this level though.
By pointing at a "dark side" of email you imply that the anonymous services should be rectified. I won't put words in your mouth as to how to do so. Other agencies are working on that very issue. Wonderfully its under the auspices of the US patriot act, an act that has little patriotism and much government control.
Back to tracing, if the email leaves our borders then the email is traceable.
The level of effort to trace it is too much for a local PD, however the NSA and by extension the Dept. of Homeland security sure can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy
I won't go to the level of conspiracy theory and say that interior email systems are compromised to this level though.
About needing to leave the country. I have been reading about mission creep inside the borders.
As for tracking, I am not well-versed enough to say if they can or can't. I have read that ISPs are not able to deal with anonymous remailers. Also, the FBI is seriously investigating the U of Pitt threats, so if they can they should already have the goods. But the email threats still continue.
As for tracking, I am not well-versed enough to say if they can or can't. I have read that ISPs are not able to deal with anonymous remailers. Also, the FBI is seriously investigating the U of Pitt threats, so if they can they should already have the goods. But the email threats still continue.
Remember that they had the information relating to the 9/11 incident but had not by the time of the attack actually got around to listening and categorizing the data that they already had. That only became Important after the fact and if it had of had the resources to deal with the Daily Data Collected they may have been able to prevent it from happening but like the Do More with Less that seems so popular today they have the means to collect the data but not the resources to collate it to prevent things happening unless they are actively investigating that action before the event.
With Remailers they know who is sending stuff to these services, the time delay between receiving and sending and what is sent from them just not who is responsible for what individual items are forwarded though with enough time they can effectively work out who is most likely to be responsible.
The reason why these services are so difficult to track is because they lack the Priority needed to make it possible to to track things and this is what effectively makes the original sender anonymous.
Of course if someone is interested enough and has the Technical Resources at their disposal they can eventually track things down but the issue here isn't the Technical Possibility of Tracking the Perp Down but the Proper Authorities doing the work. Like most Intelligence Organisations Data is not shared and many times the same systems are duplicated with the same results of Masses of Data being collected but very little of it being actually looked at to see the level of threat if any that it posses soon enough.
A perfect example of this is a Invoice sent via E Mail that says something along the lines of Used Boot & Nuke to wipe the HDD and then reloaded. "Nuke" being a Key Word which is Flagged results in all E Mail with it in it being copied and then at some time in the future to be determined by the Powers that Be actually looked at to see what is actually being talked about.
This isn't even something new but has been around since National Telephone Systems where first introduced. It's just got more Technical not something new happening.
Col
With Remailers they know who is sending stuff to these services, the time delay between receiving and sending and what is sent from them just not who is responsible for what individual items are forwarded though with enough time they can effectively work out who is most likely to be responsible.
The reason why these services are so difficult to track is because they lack the Priority needed to make it possible to to track things and this is what effectively makes the original sender anonymous.
Of course if someone is interested enough and has the Technical Resources at their disposal they can eventually track things down but the issue here isn't the Technical Possibility of Tracking the Perp Down but the Proper Authorities doing the work. Like most Intelligence Organisations Data is not shared and many times the same systems are duplicated with the same results of Masses of Data being collected but very little of it being actually looked at to see the level of threat if any that it posses soon enough.
A perfect example of this is a Invoice sent via E Mail that says something along the lines of Used Boot & Nuke to wipe the HDD and then reloaded. "Nuke" being a Key Word which is Flagged results in all E Mail with it in it being copied and then at some time in the future to be determined by the Powers that Be actually looked at to see what is actually being talked about.
This isn't even something new but has been around since National Telephone Systems where first introduced. It's just got more Technical not something new happening.
Col
As much as I know about it, Mixmaster can be setup by an individual or a like-minded group. The intermediary servers can be anywhere and wash the address information before surfacing at the destination.
there are lines that should not be crossed. True liberty is the ability and freedom to make choices. Liberty is not freedom from consequence. While freedom of speech is important, whomever is responsible for these threats has made a choice to threaten the lives and well-being of others and that goes beyond simple rhetoric. They have made a choice to take action and that action has a consequence affixed. We all have the freedom to be frustrated with things in our lives and to feel passionately about different issues. In the heat of the moment we even have the freedom to make rash or stupid comments as I have done in the past about the occupy wallstreet movement (ie. we should ship them off to Africa so they can see what wealth disparity truly is, or they should be locked up because what they are promoting is thievery). This differs in that this goes beyond hot-headed speech this is taking action that threatens the lives of others. They had to sit down at a computer and write not just one but multiple emails and send them to the university. Not only that but they did it in such a way that shows they knew it was wrong. It was a premeditated act designed to if not harm others at the very least threaten them harm. In my mind no effort should be spared in tracking that person or persons down and holding them accountable for those actions. Again this is not rhetoric this is repeated action that threatens the lives and well-being of others and that should not be permitted in any society.
is advocating that threats are free speech; yelling fire in a crowded theater when there is not a fire is the tired old example. What we are advocating, is that giving up anonymity permanently just for a small gain in security, is not worth the loss of freedom. Freedom fighters everywhere are generally peaceful and only communicating ideas that are only a threat to dictators; because they wan't to control thought. This freedom should be preserved and protected at all costs - I think this is why the Arab spring is possible - that dissent in Iran is possible without endangering the dissenter - China is definitely a good example.
The difficulty is that clamping down on anonymity at all impinges, in principle on all. Anonymity is like citizen's rights; it can be abused or respected, but any means of countering abuse will definitely mean the loss of true anonymity. I say this as someone who was subjected to a long and sustained campaign of the most vicious 'anonymous' attacks, over a decade. It may not have helped that in the early days that his attempts gave his IP # away, and thus meant we found it easy to close his internet accounts. That merely moved him on though. And when he found that not even Julf of anon.penet.fi could or would hide his IP # (see $cientology) he started to use more and more sophisticated measures, measures that I later used to good, honest effect.
on the idea that super-sleuthing will win the day for abusers; and bring them to justice. Perhaps I'm too optimistic. 
that Franklin quote. I have a tendency to get worked up when it comes to the terms liberty and freedom. They are quite frequently misinterpreted to mean freedom from consequences or the freedom to do whatever-the-heck-you-want-regardless-of-the-consequences.
I may have a philosophic objection with the whole concept of anonymity. Anonymity seems to be the act of trying to escape the consequences of your actions which appears to me to be both dishonest and cowardly. I admittedly have a low tolerance for both of those things. I guess the big question is, "Is there a way to maintain anonymity while eliminating the abuses of it?" If the answer is no then do the pros outweigh the cons. Obviously there are some situations where it can be invaluable and even necessary such as those highlighted by JCitizen however it seems that the negative uses overshadow the positive ones.
I may have a philosophic objection with the whole concept of anonymity. Anonymity seems to be the act of trying to escape the consequences of your actions which appears to me to be both dishonest and cowardly. I admittedly have a low tolerance for both of those things. I guess the big question is, "Is there a way to maintain anonymity while eliminating the abuses of it?" If the answer is no then do the pros outweigh the cons. Obviously there are some situations where it can be invaluable and even necessary such as those highlighted by JCitizen however it seems that the negative uses overshadow the positive ones.
I like the way you worded the question. It captures what many if not all the members have been alluding to.
If you're a member of a suppressed minority in a country without the sort of protections we take for granted.
People in this situation don't have the ability to make themselves heard in any other way. Convenience for us in the "free-world" is pretty irrelevant when judged against their needs.
People in this situation don't have the ability to make themselves heard in any other way. Convenience for us in the "free-world" is pretty irrelevant when judged against their needs.
I do not know what being suppressed to that extent means. I am trying to learn. What I'd like to try and understand is how an anonymous email helps. Is it used to transfer information between like-minded people?
In some regimes, anonymous email is the only safe way people can communicate, but also let the rest of us know what's happening in these places.
The mask used in the ball (or in any private residence) is privacy.
The mask used in public is a problem since it facilitates things like robbery intimidation and assault by enabling escape for consequence.
Similarly in private communication the personal communication is protected from interception (by the government) while communication to a public forum is not.
Just because the threat of misuses are there is no good reason to reduce or eliminate the privacy of all. Privacy in many cases is security in and of itself.
Should we declare all private diaries( in any form) to be search-able by the government because one may plan a an attack on society within them? Later when the same capability to do so with the human mind is available extending it on? How many crimes could be prevented, what a noble cause!
There is a very real reason why peace officers wear names and badges, and why in totalitarian regimes the same are masked. I would never take those same officers right to privacy away.
This is a very important discussion for every person to have.
It is the underpinnings of free society and I wish I could be more articulate.
The mask used in public is a problem since it facilitates things like robbery intimidation and assault by enabling escape for consequence.
Similarly in private communication the personal communication is protected from interception (by the government) while communication to a public forum is not.
Just because the threat of misuses are there is no good reason to reduce or eliminate the privacy of all. Privacy in many cases is security in and of itself.
Should we declare all private diaries( in any form) to be search-able by the government because one may plan a an attack on society within them? Later when the same capability to do so with the human mind is available extending it on? How many crimes could be prevented, what a noble cause!
There is a very real reason why peace officers wear names and badges, and why in totalitarian regimes the same are masked. I would never take those same officers right to privacy away.
This is a very important discussion for every person to have.
It is the underpinnings of free society and I wish I could be more articulate.
I get confused with protected communications. I see remailers being in place due to lack of protection.
In contacts list add a letter or number in front of all your contacts. This prevents anyone from using the contacts list to re-mail. It goes to postmaster and comes back as un-deliverable. I know it's an inconvenence because you have to edit contacts to remove the letter or number but it works.
Randy
Randy
The person wanting to remain anonymous does not have to use a bogus email address. That real address gets stripped along the way.
What you are referring to is pretty much one of the first defenses against code running in Outlook back in the late 90s that when opened even in the preview pane would email itself to everyone in your contact list. These remailers are not the same thing. They are on the server side of email delivery, not the client endpoints.
I happen to have witnessed the aftermath of the tragic shootings back in March, and I can only say that this bomb threat business is a disturbing side-effect, probably generated from someone with way too much time on their hands wanting to instill further fear. I do hope someone will find out who is behind these baseless, anonymous threats. It's a darn shame services like Mixmaster are abused in this way. What a travesty...
You and the people of Pittsburgh are in our thoughts. Hopefully this will end without anyone getting hurt.
What about DKIM and SPF (especially in combination)? Both of these technologies exist today and would ensure email could not use remailers, wouldn't they?
The only way email could then be delivered would be if the sending server could be verified. You could blacklist remailer servers when located. If they are as hard to set up as you say, then re-configuring or creating new ones would discourage would be admins.
This would also seriously combat spam.
The only way email could then be delivered would be if the sending server could be verified. You could blacklist remailer servers when located. If they are as hard to set up as you say, then re-configuring or creating new ones would discourage would be admins.
This would also seriously combat spam.
campus security would never know a nut had bad designs on the University. Maybe if the email were redirected to a security concern, or law enforcement; then I could advocate that kind of plan.
Of course but if it was a required component of the mail infrastructure, remailers would stop being used. Then the crazies would have to find another avenue of communication (hopefully leaving a trail).
Ah yes. As you may remember me saying a year or two back, I was stalked and my stalker learned how to use first cypherpunk then mixmaster mailers. I taught myself even to 'roll my own' in pursuit of learning what was happening. In short this individual used remailers in pursuit of a private agenda, driven by his distorted view of what the world owed him, and tried to destroy many careers. He used one of the standard ploys on me, accusing me of paedophilia, thereby also demonstrating his ignorance of dotted IP numbers, DHCP and so on.
One professional, now very well known for his useful and money earning website, even found himself facing legal threats from this anonymous creep.
At the end of it all I have to thank the hacking community (and I do mean hackers, not script kiddies) for the novel and amusing ways in which they dealt with him. I learned a thing or two. I also found myself laughing with tears streaming down my face at the things they did to my stalker. I believe that he will remember the nightmares they gave him.
True anonymity is almost impossible to find, though Jack B Nymble, mixmaster remailers and older versions of windows make it impossible to all but the most powerful, who may be able to attack using man in the middle techniques. I haven't paid any attention to this for probably 10 years, so I can't remember the theoretical line of attack that was articulated by a prominent member of that part of the online community, in the days when there were not very many of us. I've forgotten how to configure it, and I don't know if there are any newer packages, but it's possible to be a very busy nuisance with very little risk at all.
Is it wrong for such a powerful degree of anonymity to be so easily available? In spite of my experiences I do not think so. I have used my ability to make anonymous contact for the purpose of whistle blowing. I do not know what I would have done without it, and I know of other cases where more needy people than I have been grateful for it.
One professional, now very well known for his useful and money earning website, even found himself facing legal threats from this anonymous creep.
At the end of it all I have to thank the hacking community (and I do mean hackers, not script kiddies) for the novel and amusing ways in which they dealt with him. I learned a thing or two. I also found myself laughing with tears streaming down my face at the things they did to my stalker. I believe that he will remember the nightmares they gave him.
True anonymity is almost impossible to find, though Jack B Nymble, mixmaster remailers and older versions of windows make it impossible to all but the most powerful, who may be able to attack using man in the middle techniques. I haven't paid any attention to this for probably 10 years, so I can't remember the theoretical line of attack that was articulated by a prominent member of that part of the online community, in the days when there were not very many of us. I've forgotten how to configure it, and I don't know if there are any newer packages, but it's possible to be a very busy nuisance with very little risk at all.
Is it wrong for such a powerful degree of anonymity to be so easily available? In spite of my experiences I do not think so. I have used my ability to make anonymous contact for the purpose of whistle blowing. I do not know what I would have done without it, and I know of other cases where more needy people than I have been grateful for it.
Very interesting as well! I think many in law enforcement forget that just good ol' smart gumshoe work can reveal who the suspects are, even in cases like Pitt.
Thanks for that. I caught him out by using hand cranked pattern matching and a grep tool. Subsequently I've developed a significant interest in pattern matching software, and intend to take this to its logical academic extreme. There are ways to avoid even pattern matching software though.
As to gumshoe work, have a laugh at what one of my friends did. She nailed the IP# of another, very well known stalker down, rigged up her system to text her each time the poster was at it; with a friend she discreetly positioned herself in the student computing hall where the deeds were done, snaffled the Netscrape Hx files to confirm the target's identity, and maintained obs on her until enough dirt came together. The target was arrested and all because of some good old fashioned detective and hacking work. 'I have detailed files', some of which I posted through a mixmaster chain as a warning which the target ignored.
I hadn't thought about this for years now. Happy days.
As to gumshoe work, have a laugh at what one of my friends did. She nailed the IP# of another, very well known stalker down, rigged up her system to text her each time the poster was at it; with a friend she discreetly positioned herself in the student computing hall where the deeds were done, snaffled the Netscrape Hx files to confirm the target's identity, and maintained obs on her until enough dirt came together. The target was arrested and all because of some good old fashioned detective and hacking work. 'I have detailed files', some of which I posted through a mixmaster chain as a warning which the target ignored.
I hadn't thought about this for years now. Happy days.
You have me interested. Could you explain what you are referring to, please?
All our text and speech contains idiosyncrasies that identify us, give us away. I've done pattern analysis 'by hand' as it were, but now see there is plenty of good pattern matching software that works online. It can be used in plagiarism ( http://plagiarism.bloomfieldmedia.com/z-wordpress/ see also http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/writing/Examining%20Anti.htm ) and it can be use to track offenders. The interface between offenders and the net has grown into a major interest of mine, as I've hinted before, and I'm hoping to set up a full time academic research project this year. You will be the one of the first to know Michael if my labours are not fruitless!
The hand cranked pattern matching using a grep tool would essentially be boolean searches of saved material for standard phrases, misspellings and so on. I don't want to give any more away if you don't mind.
The hand cranked pattern matching using a grep tool would essentially be boolean searches of saved material for standard phrases, misspellings and so on. I don't want to give any more away if you don't mind.
Guess what I'm doing...researching an article about it right now with Dr. Pennebaker.
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/pennebaker/home2000/jwphome.htm
His book "The Secret Life of Pronouns" was a great read.
And another one of my friends, Dr. Narayanan is researching similarly:
http://33bits.org/2009/01/15/de-anonymizing-the-internet/
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/pennebaker/home2000/jwphome.htm
His book "The Secret Life of Pronouns" was a great read.
And another one of my friends, Dr. Narayanan is researching similarly:
http://33bits.org/2009/01/15/de-anonymizing-the-internet/
Heh. I'm so used to not divulging data that I won't reveal specifics in public. If you could assure the data would be handled sensitively I can put them your way. A lot took place in public.
I've never used the system to contact a Tech Rep member and don't know how to do it, even though I've temporarily allowed all scripts. Would you mind initiating contact so that I can respond? Ta.
In the bio at the end of the article is a contact button. Thanks.
This is no different than someone dumping a letter in a mail box. It's anonymous with little information to trace back to the origin. This looks like it will be another excuse to invade someone's computer privacy.
I was hoping for a discussion on what we could possibly do. What would you say to the students at Pitt?
It's possible to register with some remailers and have anonymous stuff barred (obviously this is more useful in Usenet, where intelligently used kill filters can work a treat) . Also filters in email systems work well, filtering on the IP # and so on. The problem is that, if a remailer is filtered out and a genuine warning comes through the whole thing seems to have been a wasted effort; what if someone dies or is seriously hurt because a Mixmaster message does not make it through? Perhaps some offenders will be caught if filtering is not adopted (and as I said I can defeat pattern matching software), and some will get through.
There was a case in the UK a few years back, in which an elderly lady had been dropping poison pen letters through the letter boxes of her fellow villagers. It was a nightmare and, although her anonymity was in the end broken, she managed to cause mental illness in a few of her targets. This is not greatly different to Mixmaster remailing IMNSVHO, and let's remember that Mixmaster/Cypherpunk remailers have been around for a long time. A few cases like the 'Territickle' case demonstrate the power of marrying intelligent nastiness to IT. Ban Mixmaster remailers as much as we want, there are many ways to be a nuisance. Tho' I've forgotten the specifics, I knew how to telnet into an appropriate server and send messages to Usenet that did not betray my IP#; add to that the increasing presence of free Wi-Fi in public places and useable free proxies that can be chained up, and you can see that the Mixmaster controversy misses the point, namely that there are too many useable facilities that can be used in different combinations for the purposes of harassment. Pattern matching is one of the few hopes that are left, but as I say I can defeat it.
Such harassment is usually carried out by individuals whose profile can be with a reasonable degree of certainty predicted. This is only the start though; the point would be to profile vulnerable kids in schools and determine how such disorders (and they are disorders) can be prevented in the first place. This would be to the benefit of offenders and victims. As an example a Scottish forensic psychologist in the UK has been working on a very difficult category of childhood disorders which is implicated in very serious crimes in the mature individual. There have been signs of success in staving these things off. Thus it may be of more help to obviate the problem using educational, psychological and psychiatric methods and, better still, trying to find an optimal size and way of running communities. I have my pet examples, for example the age-cohort systems run in tribal African societies (which admittedly have their own drawbacks, such as 'witchcraft' trials which end in death and no evidence of witchcraft). Groups tend to be self policing, self healing and detect it more quickly and easily when one of their own 'goes wrong'. Sorry for the length of the answer, which is more psychological than IT, precisely because the problem lies, not with the technology, but with the person using it.
There was a case in the UK a few years back, in which an elderly lady had been dropping poison pen letters through the letter boxes of her fellow villagers. It was a nightmare and, although her anonymity was in the end broken, she managed to cause mental illness in a few of her targets. This is not greatly different to Mixmaster remailing IMNSVHO, and let's remember that Mixmaster/Cypherpunk remailers have been around for a long time. A few cases like the 'Territickle' case demonstrate the power of marrying intelligent nastiness to IT. Ban Mixmaster remailers as much as we want, there are many ways to be a nuisance. Tho' I've forgotten the specifics, I knew how to telnet into an appropriate server and send messages to Usenet that did not betray my IP#; add to that the increasing presence of free Wi-Fi in public places and useable free proxies that can be chained up, and you can see that the Mixmaster controversy misses the point, namely that there are too many useable facilities that can be used in different combinations for the purposes of harassment. Pattern matching is one of the few hopes that are left, but as I say I can defeat it.
Such harassment is usually carried out by individuals whose profile can be with a reasonable degree of certainty predicted. This is only the start though; the point would be to profile vulnerable kids in schools and determine how such disorders (and they are disorders) can be prevented in the first place. This would be to the benefit of offenders and victims. As an example a Scottish forensic psychologist in the UK has been working on a very difficult category of childhood disorders which is implicated in very serious crimes in the mature individual. There have been signs of success in staving these things off. Thus it may be of more help to obviate the problem using educational, psychological and psychiatric methods and, better still, trying to find an optimal size and way of running communities. I have my pet examples, for example the age-cohort systems run in tribal African societies (which admittedly have their own drawbacks, such as 'witchcraft' trials which end in death and no evidence of witchcraft). Groups tend to be self policing, self healing and detect it more quickly and easily when one of their own 'goes wrong'. Sorry for the length of the answer, which is more psychological than IT, precisely because the problem lies, not with the technology, but with the person using it.
I am not denying these are terrible things but it is a slippery slope to begin tracking and marking internet traffic. This may be perfectly fine for China to implement but where does it stop? Is it even feasible to believe we could do anything?
More to the point, the internet is global and connects people in new ways that would have been thought inconceivable until the late 20th century. Can we always trace back snail mail to the original sender? Had this been a hand written letter originating from some middle eastern country would we be shouting to require proper identification to send a letter?
Let's be realistic. Again, I am not saying what happened wasn't horrible, but how many civil liberties must we all give up because of the few misguided? How much freedom are you willing to give up to feel safe? Once that snow ball starts rolling it becomes harder and harder to stop.
More to the point, the internet is global and connects people in new ways that would have been thought inconceivable until the late 20th century. Can we always trace back snail mail to the original sender? Had this been a hand written letter originating from some middle eastern country would we be shouting to require proper identification to send a letter?
Let's be realistic. Again, I am not saying what happened wasn't horrible, but how many civil liberties must we all give up because of the few misguided? How much freedom are you willing to give up to feel safe? Once that snow ball starts rolling it becomes harder and harder to stop.
A good summary of my concern, and thank you. To repeat, I was harassed by someone using these techniques. The extent to which he felt empowered and able to pursue me can be summed by thus; I used to think I'd worked out what he'd do next, but he started to surprise even me. He must have sat there for hours, working out how to use his armamentarium of anonymous tools but he could. He had no job and no life. That is a part of the clue.
But, as I've been asking other members what would you suggest be done. What would you say to the students and professors at Pitt?
That is a good question. What action do you take against anonymous threats to which the merit cannot be determined? You try your best to find the culprit and do your best to be on alert but after that it is life as usual with some idiot being an idiot.
In theory you go after the root cause but what is the root cause here? Political unrest? An angry student hiding behind the guise of a political agenda? No one knows really except the perpetrator(s). So what do you go after? How do you fight terrorism? It is an idea - not a person or even a real tangible thing. Reminds me of "the war on terror" - what does that even mean? What are the tangible goals you can achieve?
So to answer your original question the answer is I don't know - but the answer is also not giving up my civil liberties that countless others have died securing and protecting before me.
In theory you go after the root cause but what is the root cause here? Political unrest? An angry student hiding behind the guise of a political agenda? No one knows really except the perpetrator(s). So what do you go after? How do you fight terrorism? It is an idea - not a person or even a real tangible thing. Reminds me of "the war on terror" - what does that even mean? What are the tangible goals you can achieve?
So to answer your original question the answer is I don't know - but the answer is also not giving up my civil liberties that countless others have died securing and protecting before me.
There are a lot of other ways to be anonymous then the use of remailers. Things that are truly anonymous, but we won't go into them here. So will making remailers go away make it easier to find people? No, and getting rid of them will not be easy anyway as they are so spread out and there are so many of them. Most likely the way these people will be caught is because they will mess up, either they are known to the university and have a grudge or/and they will let it slip to someone that they are the one.
just good detective work. Even Kaczynski could have been caught earlier this way.
You brought up several good points. I'm thinking it's the age-old story, just with fancier tools.
I wrote Mixmaster back in the early 1990's. I would be happy to answer questions about it.
My thinking about anonymity has always been that there are lots of ways for bad people, especially if they are not worried about breaking the law, to be anonymous. There are lots of reasons for good people without technical skills to want to be strongly anonymous. This suggests that tools such as Mixmaster, in general, will do more good than harm.
My thinking about anonymity has always been that there are lots of ways for bad people, especially if they are not worried about breaking the law, to be anonymous. There are lots of reasons for good people without technical skills to want to be strongly anonymous. This suggests that tools such as Mixmaster, in general, will do more good than harm.
I think the long term potential may outweigh the damage. Thanks for writing it. I've used it, enjoyed it, and like all the little bells and whistles that can be used. Something like chaff among other things, ISTR. Truly beautiful stuff.
- Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Prev
- Next
- Toggle
