anonymous services

[John (EBo) David]

Lucas Vogel wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
>         After reading the heated dialog about having to shut down JLF's anonymous
> services, I was wondering if we could have a dialog about it.
> 
>         Why do we need it? What is it primarily used for? I ask these things not
> because I feel strongly either way about anonymous services, but because I
> have never felt the need to send anonymous email(assuming that's the only
> service?) to anybody. What are some of the different reasons people use this
> service, and who/what gets hurt if we don't have it?

There are a number of reasons to keep one's anominity.   In the past if
I wanted anonominity I would work under a pseudonym.  Oh, if someone
like the FBI wanted to track me down it would be reasonably easy, but
I'm not doing something illegal -- I just like my privacy.  Do you feel
you have no right to privacy?  I'm not talking from the government
looking into our lives...  I'm talking about all the damn SPAMers,
spyware sifters, ambulance chacers, etc.  Do you have a clue as to how
many of the 200 or so email messages a day that I have to sift through
are likely scanned off of a list like this?  Using an anon server allows
me the freedom to post to PLUG and keep the SPAMers at bay.  If I start
getting to much JUNK I switch anon addresses and keep my id limited to a
very few business and personal contacts...

But here is another thing.  If the Gvmt think that outlawing crypto in
the US is going to keep it out of the hands of the bad guys, wake up.  I
have never studied crypto tychniques, but it is my understanding that if
I have a collection of noise (say thermo or chaotic noise generator)
shared by me and some end user, that just about all I have to do is XOR
it and I'm good to go...  Now if I studied crypto even for a day or two
I would probably find that this only works if one cannot find structure
in the noise like some periodic cycle deducible using FFT, Wavelet, or
some other technique...  Nothing is going to stop someone from
distributing encrypted data.  How you might ask?  I simply take portions
of the message and tweek a random image on the web, you download it,
permute it, and you have the info back.  A hacker defaces several images
on a cite (in a subtle impreciptable way) and now the encrypted info is
not even on the bad guys own machine...  I see the over reactions
already looming on the horizon.  defeating crypto will only make it
harder for me to keep my private info (like credit card info) from
little bad guys (like the one that stole one of my credit card info) and
will have little effect on a serious threat like bin Laden, etc.

No, I agree with the writer who wrote the atricle on "Who We Are". 
We're likely to over react for some time, but we *will* pull together. 
Why have annonomous servers? protection of privacy.  Why crypto?
protection of sensitive personal info.  Why guns? protection of home and
family.  Are they necessary?  We as a nation will have to decide.

  EBo --