RE: MAIL: chained remailing strategy

[nobody@shell.portal.com]

Hal Finney wrote:

> Here are the times at which my remailer has received messages 
> over the past week.  (This is the only form of log which I keep, 
> except for messages titled "DEATH TO BLACKNET".)  In return for 
> this information, please provide a histogram showing usage as a 
> function of time of day.  Thanks - Hal Finney

You're on, Hal.  Thanks for the work you put into that, and I'll 
see if I can whip up a program to produce a histogram ... well, 
at least in tabular form.  Thanks for the challenge...  In fact, 
if you want, I can send you the source code (in "C"), privately.

This mention of "DEATH TO BLACKNET" sounds intriguing.  Is this 
some sort of abusive/harassing message you're trying to track 
down?  With encrypted chaining available to hide the actual 
subject until the last link, it would seem that the sender is 
either naive, or else WANTS the Subject: line itself to send some 
sort of "statement".  (What is "BLACKNET", BTW?)

This brings up a related question, however.  How often, if at 
all, are you asked to help trace down the source of a message 
handled by your remailer?  Under what circumstances would you 
cooperate with such a request?

I've noticed that you have a 510 bit public key for your 
remailer.  Did you choose the shorter length to speed things up, 
or what?  I tend to use a remailer with a longer key as my FIRST 
link in the chain.  Maybe it's overkill, but why not?

And, finally, as a chained remailer user, I've read the periodic 
"status reports" by fingering "ghio@andrew.cmu.edu" and your 
remailer must certainly rank as one of the promptest and most 
reliable.  In fact, I think I'll include you *SOMEWHERE* on the 
chain for this reply... <g>