Re: Response to Uni's "Lawsuit" Message

[Eli Brandt <ebrandt@jarthur.cs.hmc.edu>]

At  8:07 am 5/24/94 -0700, Sandy Sandfort wrote:
>How about this, instead:  A company called "ID Anonymous, Ltd." sets up in
>a business secrecy jurisdiction.  It buys Internet access accounts in bulk
>from DGS, Netcom, etc. (ID1, ID2, ID3, . . .).  It then resells them to
>people living in the service territories of the various access providers.

If I were in law enforcement, and I were faced with the problem of
getting a truename for an account like this, I'd trace back the
contact with the access provider.  No need to try to serve an
overseas subpoena; the user has to access the system somehow.  If
FBI's Big Brother Bill goes through, I can probably do this in
fifteen minutes.

There may also be problems in trying to buy blocks of anonymous
accounts, since the access provider will take the heat for anything
coming out of the account.  If Netcom is willing to drop Cashier
and Scumball, they may not be happy about this whole plan.

   Eli   ebrandt@hmc.edu