help file for remailing script

[Karl L. Barrus <barrus@tree.egr.uh.edu>]

And here is a short help file I've written.  I will try to write
another version of this script (maybe in perl or something) and submit
everything to be placed on the ftp site.  To cut down on mail, I won't
be mailing further versions, etc. to the list, so request it from me
or get it via ftp (once I get around to submitting it).

------------------------------

hop.mail is a shell script that automates the process of using the
cypherpunk cryptographically protected remailers.  Briefly, it has two
modes of operation: one is to send a file, the other is to create a
header which can be used by someone else to send a file to you.

WHAT YOU NEED TO HAVE

Well, you need to have PGP installed.  Also, you'll need the public
keys of the various remailers on your keyring.

SENDING A FILE

Create the message you want to mail, and save it as a file.

To send a file, choose option 1.  You will then be prompted for the
final destination of the file you would like to send (by final
destination I mean email address).  After that, the script will
continue prompting you for routing information.  Each remailer you
specify routes your mail through that particular remailer.

Note: due to the way the remailing headers are built up, the path your
file will actually take is the reverse of what you specify.  That is,
the first remailer you route through will be the one you file will
appear to come from.  The last remailer you specify is actually the
first hop in the chain.  

After routing your mail through as many remailers as you want (keep in
mind that your mail will arrive slower the more hops you take), enter
'q' to exit.

After you have set up your mail route, the script will ask what file
you wish to send.  The file is simply appended on to the header, and
the whole thing is sent off.  No encryption of the file takes place.
If you wish, you may encrypt the file you want to mail with your
destination's public key or some other encryption scheme.  The
advantage of not encrypting the message in with the remailing header
is that you can use this script to mail to people who don't use pgp.

CREATING A HEADER

Create the message you wish to send and save it as a file.

Choose option 2 to create a header.  The steps are similar to sending
a file, except remember that someone will use this to reply to you, so
type in the address you want them to respond to.  This can be your
real mail address, or an anonymous id on one of the various anonymous
services, or anything else.  Route your mail like you want, and enter
'q' to exit.

At this point, you will be prompted for a file to append to (the
message you created).  Enter the file you want the remailing header
appended to.  Now you have a file which contains the message you
typed, as well as instructions on how whoever you mail it to can use
the included header to reply to you.  If you wish, you may mail this
file via option 1!

NOTES

My first attempt at this script simply built each header separately.
This worked, but was vulnerable: simply save each piece in a separate
file, run pgp on them, and you will be told which remailer the header
is encrypted for!

This version nests the encryption, so that only the next destination
is revealed to the current remailer.  That is, the structure of the
header is:

encrypt1(address2, encrypt2(address3, encrypt3(message)))

So when your file arrives at remailer1, the header is decrypted to
reveal the next hop, and the rest of the header is mailed off the
remailer2, where it is decrypted to reveal the next hop, etc.

As I said above, the file you send is not encrypted.  If it bugs you
that your file is mailed plain text, then encrypt it first if the
person you are sending to can decrypt.  I purposely did not encrypt
the file you want to send so you can use this procedure with people
who don't have pgp.  Or you can post to usenet via a email-to-usenet
gateway.  Or whatever.

Also, the remailer at extropia is not supported yet.  Not because I
don't like it, but because encryption must be used there.  This isn't
bad or anything, but it causes difficulty building the remailing
header separately.  Extropia will not allow you to mail plain text
through it, you must encrypt it with extropia's public key.  So if you
do that, then you should be able to use extropia, and you'll need to
go through and uncomment the appropriate lines.

Finally, the mail command I used in the script is 
	mail -s "anonymous mail" 
Make the appropriate changes if you want to use another mailer or
change the subject line 

BUGS

Ug.  :-)  Send reports of problems to elee9sf@menudo.uh.edu, or
barrus@tree.egr.uh.edu, and I'll look into them!  Or, send any
comments you might have.


/-----------------------------------\
| Karl L. Barrus                    |
| elee9sf@menudo.uh.edu             | <- preferred account
| barrus@tree.egr.uh.edu (NeXTMail) |
\-----------------------------------/