FC: Status of anonymous remailer network -- a week after attack

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Thu Sep 20 2001 - 07:34:50 PDT

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    Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 22:36:59 -0700 (PDT)
    From: Len Sassaman <rabbiat_private>
    To: <declanat_private>
    Subject: Current Status of the Anonymous Remailer Network
    
    Hi Declan,
    
    I thought your Politech readers might be interested in how the remailer
    network looks, just over a week after the September 11th incidents. Feel
    free to pass this on.
    
    Initial reports gave the impression that the network was weakened because
    of reactions to the terrorist attacks. On Sept 11th, two remailers
    (cracker and orange) went offline. According to their operators, however,
    this was a result of ongoing problems with their ISPs.  Cracker did come
    back online shortly thereafter. Two other remailers shifted into the less
    conspicuous "middleman mode" to avoid potential abuse situations.
    
    Overall, the remailer network has grown in the past week. At present,
    there are 37 remailers operating[1]. Five of these came online in the past
    week, and I know of at least three more slated to go live in the next few
    days, in response to concerns that the network may lose nodes. There have
    been no reported requests from law enforcement for information about
    remailer users yet, however.
    
    Commercial anonymity service provider Anonymizer is currently offering an
    anonymous gateway to the FBI's tip site for people who have information
    concerning the attacks[1]. Likewise, the remailer network could provide a
    safe mechanism for informants to provide information to the authorities.
    
    Also, the latest version of the Mixmaster remailer software was
    released today, in anticipation of these additional new remailers[3].
    
    
    --Len.
    
    [1] http://mixmaster.shinn.net/stats/mlist show the currently active
         remailers, and their reliability statistics.
    [2] http://www.anonymizer.com
    [3] ftp://ftp.zedz.net/pub/crypto/remailer/mixmaster/mix-2.9b31.tar.gz
    
    
    
    
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