Re: Remailers Pose Risk

[Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl@unix.asb.com>]

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>    Computerworld, February 12, 1996, Front page:
> 
>    Stealth E-mail poses corporate security risk
> 
>    By Gary H. Anthes[..]
>    Anonymous remailers on the Internet are emerging as a
>    threat to national and corporate security, some experts
>    warn.

FNORD!
[..]
>    For corporate information systems managers, stealth E-mail
>    is especially troubling because it allows hackers to attack
>    systems, steal trade secrets and broadcast them worldwide
>    without leaving an audit trail for authorities to follow.

Dumpster-diving the corporate offices and mailing the results to the 
media doesn't leave much of an audit trail either. Perhaps a problem lies 
in their own security...

>    "Anonymous remailers have a lot of nasty potential," said
>    Stephen T. Kent, chief scientist for security technology at

So do kitchen knives or automobiles.
[..]
[..]
>    One snowy day last month, for example, about 25% of the
>    workforce at a defense contractor in Rockville, Md., went
>    home after they received a bogus E-mail message dismissing
>    them for the day. The message originated from an anonymous
>    remailer that allowed the user to impersonate a senior
>    company official.

Was that a remailer or simply forged mail?
>    Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an Ohio law
>    that required the authors of political posters and
>    pamphlets to identify themselves. "In the case of political
>    speach, you can't make people tell you who they are," said
>    Patrick Sullivan, executive director of the Computer Ethics
>    Institute in Washington.

BTW, "Docket 93-986 -- Decided April 19, 1995" from Cornell's Law site

[..]
>    "As in the case of smallpox, yellow fever, flu epidemics,
>    AIDS or malaria, it will take disasters before the public
>    may accept that some forms of restrictions on the
>    electronic freedom of speech and  that  privacy may be
>    worthwhile."FNORD!
[..]
>    Do's and don'tsAhem
>    Unethical or illegal uses of anonymous remailers:[..]
>    -  To violate copyright lawsScientology...
>    -  To encourage others to commit unethical or illegal
>       behaviorAhem. Illegal<>Unethical... it may be very ethical to violate some laws. 
And then again, so what about unethical? So what if an anonymous poster 
advocates adultury or pilfering paperclips from your employer...
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