ANON: random remailing...

[Karl Lui Barrus <klbarrus@owlnet.rice.edu>]

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>if every single site knows the final address, so what?
>how is this going to help them track down the original sender??

>anyone at the final destination who wants to track down the original sender
>would need to hop-scotch backwards through the numerous sites and try to
>track down the path the message took. this is of course, IF someone really

Yes, this is true, but the key point in the anonymous remailers is
they can be used for two-way communication.  Presumably, both you and
your friend intend to email each other.  

If mail proceeds randomly throughout the network, then the final
destination must be available to every remailer.  This may be fine if
A only sends to B (announces to every remailer B's address), but when
B responds to A, A's address is similarly announced to every remailer.
Now it is simple to figure out A and B are communicating.

If all you want is one-way communication (i.e. you just want to send
and don't expect any replies), you may be better off faking mail with
telnet, or using a newsgroup.

Karl Barrus
<klbarrus@owlnet.rice.edu>

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