Re: AT&T bans anonymous messages

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

At 2:35 PM 6/25/96, Hal wrote:

>The wording of this restriction is a bit ambiguous.  Technically if I
>choose to resend someone else's mail I am not transmitting it anonymously
>or under a false name, especially if I make clear what I have done.
>He is anonymous, not I.
....
>If I run an anonymous remailer on my home PC, connecting to WorldNet to
>download the mail, decrypt it, scramble it, and re-send it under my name
>but with a disclaimer attached telling what I have done, I have not
>posted or transmitted anything anonymously or under a false name.  The
>source of the material I choose to transmit, as long as it is legal, is
>not something under AT&T's control.

I agree with Hal's points, but I suspect that these technicalities will be
ignored when the first _complaint_ reaches the DeathStar's administrators.

"Your account has been cancelled."

I suspect other major ISPs will adopt similar language, absent a vocal
lobbying group for anonymous messaging capabilities.

On the other hand, what happens to the AT&T customers who are using
anonymous message services for the "politically correct" uses? Namely, to
post messages to rape support groups, child-abuse groups (so-called
"survivors," in modern PC parlance), and homosexuality groups? Will AT&T
cancel their accounts for hiding under a veil of pseudoanonymity?

(Or just require that their identity be "escrowed"?)

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
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