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Jeff's Side of the Story.
There's been an ongoing discussion of the Huge Cojones remailer situation
on the related newsgroups.
This has a lot of relevance to our issues, and this is one of the more
illuminating articles.
--Tim
> From: [email protected] (Jeff Burchell)
> Newsgroups:
alt.privacy.anon-server,alt.fan.steve-winter,alt.religion.scientology,alt.anonymous,misc.misc,alt.censorship,news.admin.censorship,alt.cypherpunks,comp.org.eff.talk,news.admin.net-abuse.misc
> Subject: Jeff's Side of the Story.
> Followup-To:
alt.privacy.anon-server,alt.fan.steve-winter,alt.religion.scientology,alt.anonymous,misc.misc,alt.censorship,news.admin.censorship,comp.org.eff.talk,news.admin.net-abuse.misc
> Date: 1 Jul 1997 20:02:22 GMT
> Organization: Content, Inc
...
>
> Anonymous ([email protected]) wrote:
>
> : > Only Jeff knows the whole story.
>
> Actually, not even I know the whole story. If I truely knew who it was
> that was orchestrating this attack, it would have stopped, one way or
> another. The problem is, I don't know all the players (I have some
> suspicions, which I'll elaborate on further in a little bit) but I don't
> _really_ know who did it, and I really don't know why (other than a "I
> don't like remailers, I think I'll shut one down"). And I really don't
> know the background or what precipitated this.
>
> : > But I have to ask. Could this
> : > just be an" I'm sick of this shit, f**k it, I quit, who needs this
> : > aggravation, I'll just pull the plug and go have a beer" reaction
> : > to what really seems like a fairly small problem.
>
> It is not a small problem anymore when you're getting >200 complaint
> messages a day, plus 5-10 phone calls to your employer (and your
> employer's legal department). Fortunately, Wired is a very progressive
> company, and supported my efforts to provide anonymity, but our lawyers
> aren't paid to answer phone calls on my behalf. Running a remailer is
> one thing... getting harassed at work is an entirely different matter, and
> getting a THIRD PARTY harassed at work is yet another one.
>
> But yes, The ultimate "take this thing down" decision was one made
> because I was sick of this bullshit. But you know what? I volunteer
> my time, my computer equipment, and bandwidth that is given to me
> as part of my salary. I do (well did) all of this because I believe
> that anonymity is a right, and because I have the capabilities of
> helping to provide anonymity to the masses. When the remailer was
> self-sufficient (before the attacks started), it took maybe 10 minutes
> of my time a day, and minimal resources on my machine. Afterwards,
> even after I put in the auto-blocking feature (send a blank message
> to a particular address and get your address blocked) and the
> autoresponder on the remailer-admin account, I was still getting >100
> messages a day reporting abuse... almost all of it spam-bait related.
> I receive no benefit from running the remailer (I don't even use it
> myself), and when it becomes a fairly major hassle without any
> rewards, the decision is not a hard one to make.
>
> And frankly, I already have enough to do, and get enough mail on a
> daily basis (at last check it was hovering around 600 messages/day).
> As soon as the remailer started taking up a lot of my time, it became
> time to rethink why I was running it. The moment that the spam-baiter
> started alerting people who had been baited, and telling them to
> contact me, it became personal. And I don't have time to get into
> personal pissing-contests. Yes, I took the easy way out, but that
> was my choice to make.
>
> Anyone who doesn't run a remailer has very little right questioning my
> choice, because you have no idea what precipitated it. Most people
> reading this group have the capabilities of running a remailer (it only
> takes a POP account and a Windows machine to run the Winsock remailer),
> but very few of us actually do. Why is that? I've been running huge.
> cajones for just under 2 years, and it averaged just over 3000 messages
> a day, so my remailer was responsible for about 2 million anonymous
> messages in its lifetime. I think I've done my part (at least for now),
> it's time for someone else to do theirs. If we had 15 disposable remailers
> that operated for 2-3 months each before moving/going away, we'd have
> paths for millions more anonymous messages. And isn't that what we're
> really trying to provide?
>
> : The first was doing questionable things, like installing content-based
> : filtering in an attempt to placate the attacker. Giving in to the demands
>
> When I first put the filters in, I was entirely unaware of exactly what
> the hell was going on. It seemed that someone had a bone to pick with
> databasix, and was using the remailer to get databasix harassed by
> third parties. So, Burnore's complaint seemed reasonable at the time, and
> I tried to come up with a way to block spam-bait abuse, without blocking
> anything else (like a reply to burnore in Usenet).
>
> See, if someone was doing to me what they appeared to be doing to Burnore,
> I would be pissed. I figured placating him would be the best thing to
> do. In hindsight, I was wrong, but at the time, it seemed like the correct
> decision. (Also at the same time, the SPA threatened Wired with a
> lawsuit because of The MailMasher, so things were a little tense between
> me and the legal department already, I didn't need to make them any worse.)
>
> The final content-based-filter (there was an interim one) looked for the
> following things:
>
> 1. Any address at databasix (Yes, at the request of Burnore)
> 2. Any address from my destination block list
> 3. More than 5 addresses in a row, one line each, without other content
> in-between.
> 4. Patterns of particular Usenet groups.
> 5. Particular subject lines.
>
> If any THREE of these items were spotted, the message got thrown into a
> reject bin. I periodically examined the reject bin, and can personally
> attest that it didn't block ANYTHING that it wasn't intended to. (The
> test posts reeked of spam-bait to me, and I believe were correctly
> blocked)
>
> FWIW, the filters were removed about a week ago.
>
> Because the filters were looking for a specific form of ABUSE, and not
> just doing basic pattern matches, I don't consider them to be "content
> filters". I would think that just about anyone would agree that
> posting lists of email addresses to mlm newsgroups would qualify
> as abuse, and _should_ be blocked. Blocking of this nature does NOT
> restrict free speech (or at least that is not the intentions of it), and
> it would keep the remailer out of lawsuit territory.
>
> See, the big problem with lawsuits is not the fact that _I_ don't want
> to be sued. The problem is that anyone with half a brain can determine
> that Wired is somehow related to any remailer that I am running on their
> bandwidth. Wired has deeper pockets than Mr. Burchell, so they are a
> much better group to sue... and they are a lot more willing to give
> in to a threat than I am.
>
> : What I *MIGHT* have done was to respond as follows:
> :
> : Your legal demands are unacceptable. I'd rather close the remailer than
> : compromise its integrity to suit your whims. But understand this
-- unless
> : you withdraw your demands, I will not only close the remailer but
also make
> : damn sure all of its users know exactly who forced me to take this
action!
>
> I did respond in a fashion much like this, about a week before the attacks
> started coming. Mr. Burnore requested a copy of my (non-existant) logs.
> I told him to get me something in writing, signed by his lawyer that
> stipulated that the logs were confidential, and not to be revealed to
> anyone outside of the lawyer's office.
>
> I received a letter from Belinda Bryan. She is not registered with the
> State Bar of California, and is thus, not a California lawyer. I then
> ignored the request, and forwarded the correspondence to the State
> Attorney General's office (as impersonating a lawyer in CA is defined
> as fraud with extenuating circumstances). They have been working with
> me and the San Francisco DA's office. Look out DataBasix... I'm not done
> with you yet.
>
> : The second mistake I perceive is not fully disclosing the circumstances that
> : brought down Huge Cajones, and *NAMING NAMES*. That way, even if the
remailer
> : shuts down, other remailer operators will learn about the tactics employed
> : against it, know *WHO* made the demands, etc. IOW, when you get an innocent
> : sounding, polite complaint from [email protected] alleging "abuse", here's the
> : scenario that's likely to follow ... (It's not too late to make that
> : disclosure, Jeff.)
>
> In fact, now is the time to. Making a disclosure like this while I
> was still running the remailer would have probably been a bad move.
> Now that the remailer is closed, I'll name the names that I've got.
>
> Beware... all of this is speculation, because huge.cajones was an
> anonymous service, not even I can say with any authority that any
> of the people named below had anything to do with the shutdown of
> huge.cajones (or The MailMasher). However, there are a number of
> coincidences of timing.
>
> I still don't know what the hell is going on with DataBasix, Wells Fargo
> and Gary Burnore, but I suspect that someone used huge.cajones to say
> something extremely unflattering about Burnore (from what I can tell,
> he had it coming). Burnore then decided that he would make things
> difficult for me. First, he wanted the user who had posted something
> "inflammatory" about him revealed. When I told him that I couldn't
> do that, he carried on about mail logs and identifying the host that
> a message came from (the usual). I didn't explain to him that my
> machine keeps logs, but not anything involving a *@cajones.com
> address. He then requested the logs, which I denied (and told him
> to get his lawyer to send a request...)
>
> I'll admit, after my second or third contact with Mr. Burnore, I
> no longer was particularly civil with the guy. He's a kook, and
> really didn't deserve my courtesy.
>
> Between the time he first contacted me, and the time I received the
> letter from Belinda Bryan, is when the baiting of databasix addresses
> began (slowly, with just a few posts). After a while, I received
> requests from the other members of DataBasix (including William McLatchie
> (sp) (aka wotan) who actually seems to be a remailer supporter (?)).
>
> It was at this point that I realized something was completely amiss.
> I asked McLatchie to please tell me the story of DataBasix, and he
> said that he was going to, but never did. Anyone who can tell me
> the story is invited to do so.
>
> As a side note (and just because I am naming names). Peter Hartly
> ([email protected]) yesterday spam-baited me. Fortunately,
> I've got good filters in place.
>
> As another side note, I've seen nothing to make me believe that Belinda
> Bryan is even a real person. Anyone?
>
> : > Given the importance of what Jeff was doing, I hope that he
> : > did all that he could, before declaring defeat. If that is the case,
> : > I commend him for a job well done. If not, why?
>
> I can't claim to have done _everything_ that I could have done, but I
> did certainly make an effort. I'm not willing to go to court to defend
> a practice like spam-baiting (and given the current public-opinion situation
> and impending anti-UCE legislation, this would be a terrible test-case).
>
> I am not new to threats of lawsuit, even ones that come from legitimate
> lawyers. About 8 months previous, I was threatened repeatedly by the
> legal wing of the "Church" of Scientology. I answered with a letter
> from my lawyer that explained the policies of the remailer, and
> threatened a harrassment lawsuit if the "Church" contacted me again asking
> for information (that they now knew I didn't have) about a remailer user.
> They complied, and went away (and haven't been too difficult with
> other remailer operators lately).
>
> : Agreed. Otherwise, these "asshole(s)" are simply going to do it all over
> : again against another remailer, eventually taking them all down one at
a time.
> Except that right now, new remailers are springing up. If we could get
> three more online for every one shut down, it wouldn't much matter, would
> it? I may very well end up running a mailer again in the future, but if
> I do, it will probably be either a throwaway exit-man or a truely anonymous
> middleman (i.e. nobody will actually know who is running it). It also
> will probably be hosted outside of the United States (Floating in
> international waters with a sat feed would be nice).
>
> : It's time for them to stand up and say "Next time you come for one of us
> : he's
> : not going quietly as the others have. You'll have to face ALL of us
at once,
> : instead."
>
> Aah, you imagine much more solidarity among remailer operators than actually
> exists. It doesn't work that way. It would be nice if it did, but many of
> us are running remailers on borrowed bandwidth (or have other "situations"
> to be concerned about). Being the squeaky wheel is not always a good idea
> for many of the operators (most of whom try to keep a low profile).
>
> The reality is, for all the good they do, remailers are tools that can
> very easily be abused. And, as the internet gets more and more commonplace,
> the average Joe and Joesphine, who don't have the strict Cyber-Libertarian
> viewpoints that are shared by most of us old-timers, will start to wonder
> just why anyone would want to run a service that allows anyone to speak their
> mind without fear of reprisal. When you get people with more extreme
> viewpoints (the ones who have a really legitimate need for anonymity) posting
> all kinds of stuff to all kinds of places, it will get the attention of
> Middle-America, which will then bring it to the attention of legislators.
> Any time a legislator can say "This is a blow to Child Pornographers and
> others who hide behind anonymity to commit crimes without fear of reprisal"
> you can guarantee that the bill will pass.
>
> When that happens, we're in trouble. America is scared of computers, and
> remailers are thought to be havens for the big 3 (Terrorists, Organized
> Crime and Child Pornographers). Now that the spammers are involved
> (spammers possibly being hated more than the big 3), most users are
> exposed to anonymous remailers in negative ways (Imagine what you would
> think if the first time you heard about the existance of remailers, it
> was because someone had spam-baited you, and then told you about it).
>
> The right to anonymity in the US will be legislated away within 18 months,
> partially because of spam. I do hope there's a _good_ test case waiting,
> and someone willing to fight it to the end, but I have my doubts. Ultimately
> the remailer network will be forced to move offshore, the way Crypto
> development currently has.
>
> Don't like the News? Go out and make some of your own.
>
> -Jeff
>
> |o| |o|
> |o| Jeff Burchell [email protected] |o|
> |o|- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -|o|
> |o| I am not speaking for anyone but myself. |o|
> |o| |o|
--
There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
[email protected] 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."