Re: Timothy C. May: Mini-mailbombs and Warning Letters

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 4:28 PM 9/27/95, Travis Corcoran wrote:

>As the author of the package in question, I would like to point out:
>
>(1) the email msg Tim refers to (hereafter refered to by me as "query-mail")
>                was a request for information, not a warning

I've received several of these, not just the one Travis sent.

I don't sign my messages, never have, so I see no way this "agent" Travis
ran could find such a signed message from me.m (It's conceivable he found
an old--really old--message with a faked-up sig, as perhaps for a
demonstration or spoof I was doing, but I'm skeptical. In any case, I
suspect only an "automated searcher" could find the one or two messages
that may look like this. If Travis produces the message here, I'm sure this
will be what the situation is.)

>(4) checking right now, I find that the finger command does indeed
>                fail to get a public key from Tim's address.
>
>(5) checking right now, I find that BAL's keyserver does indeed fail
>                to give any key with the address "tcmay@got.net"


Like I said, I don't sign messages. My PGP 2.0 key was signed at the second
CP meeting and, they tell me, submitted on the original MIT ring.
"tcmay@netcom.com" was my e-mail address at that time.


>A question: in a situation like this one, where an individual signed a
>message with a key then did not make a key with the return address of
>his message available either through his .plan, or a keysever (the two
>de facto standards), what next step -if any- do people think is more
>appropriate than sending mail to the individual asking them for a copy
>of the key ?

Ignore it. Why hassle people who have no plan or finger configurations? (I
don't have a shell account.) Besides, people who really want to communicate
with me with PGP simply ask for it.

If you don't like this, fine. But don't robo-interrogate and send robo-warnings.

--Tim May

---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."