BBS anonymity policy

[rishab@dxm.ernet.in]

Pierre@eworld.com:

> I thought this might interest people... eWorld's "policy" on anonymity...

Commercial net providers or BBSes usually don't bother much about anonymity.
A user may want anonymity on a BBS for three reasons: 
   1. to avoid harassment, or avoid situations like Unicorn's where the 
      'outside world' gets to know your electronic views
   2. to avoid being included in statistics - though most BBSes need statistics 
      for charging or whatever
   3. to do something either illegal, or provocative to legal action, such as
      tmp's. BBS providers are unlikely to condone or want to protect such 
      users.
      
A simple way to provide anonymity for (1) is used by a BBS I'm co-sysop of.
Everyone's identity is scrupulously recorded, for billing purposes. Users can 
create any number of identities for the purposes of posting or receiving mail,
and no corelation between these pseudonyms and real ones is available to other
users. For administration purposes, all pseudonyms for real names are available
to sysops.

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Rishab Aiyer Ghosh                                     rishab@dxm.ernet.in
Voicemail +91 11 3760335; Vox/Fax/Data 6853410
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