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Anonymous Remailers Survive Politech Attack

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 09:24:42 -0400 Send reply to: Law & Policy of Computer Communications <CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM> From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf@MIT.EDU> Subject: Anonymous Remailers Survive Politech Attack To: CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

[Here's something interesting, cyberlaw related, and which regrettably flows from the tragedy]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/21639.html

<TheRegister> Anonymous Remailers Survive Politech Attack By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco Posted: 13/09/2001 at 08:29 GMT

The anonymous remailer network isn't closing, despite an alarmist and inaccurate story by Wired's Declan McCullagh, and postings to his own widely-read Politech mailing list.

Len Sassaman, a security expert and privacy advocate who runs the Randseed remailer, is cited by McCullagh as having "pulled the plug" on his system in the wake of the World Trade Center bombings, and the report hinted that others had too.

But Sassaman's system didn't go off-line and McCullagh, it turns out, hadn't been in touch to check. An announcement rapidly followed explaining that Randseed had been switched into middleman mode, which simply prevents it from being the last machine in the remailer chain. ... </TheRegister>

This is interesting. I actually disagree very slightly with the above report, since the politech posting has Sassaman's second, more considered, message about what he was doing, reposted at http://lexx.shinn.net/pipermail/remops/2001-September/002662.html

But the _Wired News_ article is a "keeper". Let's see what Declan actually "quoted":

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46747-2,00.html

<Declan McCullagh> It's too early to tell whether he's right or not, but by late Tuesday, operators of anonymous remailers were already so worried about being ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ conduits for terrorist communications -- or being blamed for the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ communications, rightly or wrongly -- that they pulled the plug.

Operator Len Sassaman said in a post to a remailer-operators list: "I don't want to get caught in the middle of this. I'm sorry. I'm currently unemployed and don't have the resources to defend myself. At this point in time, a free-speech argument will not gain much sympathy with the Feds, judges and general public." </Declan McCullagh>

Now, what did the post by Len Sassaman really say? (and, to be fair, the full text was in the politech message):

http://lexx.shinn.net/pipermail/remops/2001-September/002633.html

<Sassaman> [Remops] Re: Opinions on Operations due to bombings.

Len Sassaman remops@lexx.shinn.net Tue, 11 Sep 2001 09:23:44 -0700 (PDT)

I'm not concerned that the remailer network is, was, or will be used ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ by the actual terrorists. What concerns me is the assholes who will ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ inevitably send bogus threats, tips, and other noise to various news groups, federal offices, and officials.

I don't want to get caught in the middle of this. I'm sorry. I'm currently unemployed and don't have the resources to defend myself. At this point in time, a free-speech argument will not gain much sympathy with the feds, judges, and general public.

And investigators don't need more noise to sort through. They'll have enough as it is.

I'd like to see remailers continue operating. But this needs to settle. I may put mine into middle, mix only mode if I feel up to it.. </Sassaman>

Talk about being quoted out of context! The omitted paragraph specifically disclaims the hype spin given in Declan McCullagh's _Wired News_ article. But, as Declan once instructed us, "Summaries are perhaps never as complete as the original, lengthier, document."

The last word from Sassaman probably won't ever be considered by "journalists":

http://lexx.shinn.net/pipermail/remops/2001-September/002637.html

<Sassaman> [Remops] Remailer key for randseed

Len Sassaman remops@lexx.shinn.net Tue, 11 Sep 2001 21:49:31 -0700 (PDT)

Please pay attention. I'm no longer going to be posting verbose updates on my remailer, since this is not simply a remops list. My earlier post got forwarded and spread all over the Internet, and I've had to deal with ghoulish reporters looking for a story all day.

Not what I wanted to deal with while I was trying to account for my friends in NYC.

I'm operating in mix/middle mode. Check the key. </Sassaman>

-- Seth Finkelstein Consulting Programmer sethf@sethf.com http://sethf.com http://archive.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/technology/circuits/19HACK.html BESS's Secret LOOPHOLE: http://sethf.com/anticensorware/bess/loophole.php BESS vs Google: http://sethf.com/anticensorware/bess/google.php

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