1. Introduction :-
This attempts to be a summary of the use of remailers to anonymously communicate
with other like minded persons via usenet, also known as Network News. The method
most commonly used to achieve anonymity is by chaining remailers together. Chaining
is a way of using more than one remailer to send a message. How does it work?
Essentially, you send a message to remailer A with instructions to send it to remailer
B, which in turn finds instructions to send it to remailer C, and so on. When,for
example, A is in Japan, B is in the USA C in Germany and D in Russia, tracing it back
to the original sender is no simple task.
2. Posting To News via Remailers:-
There are basically two types of anonymous remailers. These are called Cypherpunk
remailers (also known as "Type I" remailers) and Mixmaster remailers (also known as
"Type II" remailers). If you want to mail messages without even any type of return
address on it, then you should use a cypherpunk remailer. Mixmaster are the better of
the two, but require the use of a special client to generate the Mixmaster messages.
The idea is simple you post your on-topic material via a Mail2News gateway routing it
through preferably at least two or more remailers. At each stage identifying stuff like
headers is removed and replaced with rubbish text. If done properly, you can insure
that nobody, no remailer operator or anyone filtering mail can read both your real
name and your message. This is what makes you truly anonymous!
3. Mail2News Gateways:-
Gateways are simply specialized mail servers that act as a transfer agent between
you and news and schematically it looks like this: My PC --> ISP --> Gateway -->
Network News. Gateways are similar to proxy servers, and as in proxy chaining they
use a specific syntax for service requests. There are two styles of gateways. The
first requires a header. mail2news@ is the common address, and there must be a
Newsgroups: header. It must be Newsgroups: even if you're only posting to one
group. The requirement for this header means you must be able to insert such a
header. Putting it in the message body is not the same. If you dont know how to edit
headers then you CANNOT use a gateway that scans headers. Some standard email
programs allow the editing of headers like Agent Forte. The other style is the
group.name@ style. If you want to post to
alt.binaries.pictures.underage.admirers.mailer-daemon, you would do so by emailing
to alt.binaries.pictures.underage.admirers.mailer-daemon@ and then the site name.
Anything besides "group.name" must be left in place, meaning that in a
"group.name-news@" address, you must leave in the "-news@" part.
4. Remailing The Easy Way:-
The use of remailers is similar to that of usenet, simple principles applied to different
servers/remailers. As with with news where we can remove the need for manual
formatting and editing by using AutoPost32. We can do the same with remailers by
using JBN 2.14 (Jack B. Nymble) this will take care of all those hairy issues like
mail2news gateways, header formatting, the file size allowed by the remailers,
whether the remailers are compatible, updated strings and keys etc. Other remailing
tools use similar principles and each has their strength and weakness. Basically you
just want to post through multiple remailers, public/private keys are not an issue.
With remailers you have to experiment to find the fastest and those that don't drop
posts, some to try are Shinn, Noisebox, Squirrel, Xganon. if you visit
alt.privacy.anon-server newsgroup you can find more information on remailer lists,
remailer reliability statistics, speed etc. But Jack B. Nymble can do all this for you.
There is a manual at the potato site so download it for reference. as with news
servers there is pay remailers and open remailers and roughly the same distinction
applies except with a pay remailer if they receive abuse of service complaints from
some news server then your account may be dropped. Also pay remailers place some
stringent conditions on payment this is due to credit card abuse.
Simple Em ail Method :-
Using a proxy server set up an account with some anonymous e-mail service giving a
fake name and address and by using the DejaNews free posting service at
http://www.dejanews.com/post.xp you can post via the web. This is free and is ok
for simple text messages or the odd small picture or two. It doesn't tell people who
you are, and you must use a proxy server when posting the message if you want to
conceal where you are, otherwise your IP address it will show up in the Usenet
message header. Another drawback is that the FROM field will show some identity,
although a fake one, like "William Clinton"
5. Remailer Tools:-
Using a remailer at times can be a pretty hairy undertaking, with dropped posts and
weird syntax, but there are some tools and commercial products aimed at streamlining
the process of sending anonymous mail.
Crusader:
This is an excellent program for sending anonymous mail and posts to newsgroups.
PGP is optional (and recommended). This program is shareware.
John Doe:
John Doe will set up a NYM for you on the alias.cyberpass NYM server. A NYM is free
and affords the most security. Using John Doe, you can send e-mails AND post to
newsgroups. Additionally, people can actually respond to your NYM. Mail & Posts sent
through John Doe will be sent through chained remailers As will replies to your NYM,
you can set replies to go to any e-mail address. It is preferred you have replies sent
to a web based mail box like Hotmail where you can pick them up using a proxy so
they cant tell who you are. See Proxy Basics for further details. John Doe is
shareware.
Mailcrypt:
Updated for PGP 5.0 and GnuPG is an Emacs interface which allows seamless
integration of cryptography and internet usage. It can be used to sign and encrypt
mail, to sign usenet articles, and to verify/decrypt mail and articles.
MixFit:
A MacOs application for mixmaster formatted anonymous remailer messages.
Private Idaho Version
3.52t:
Private Idaho is an anonymous remailer utility for Windows, Supporting PGP,
cypherpunk remailers (Type 1) Mixmaster & nymservers. This program with patience,
will create nyms on the nym.alias.net NYM server as well. Freeware. The original
Private Idaho information can be found at Joel McNamara's WWW page.
Idaho Online Documentation:
Jack B. Nymble
V2.14:
Jack B Nymble is a Windows 95/NT application for composing and sending anonymous
and nym messages. uses remailers and/or will set up a NYM on the NYM.alias net. JBN
simplifies use because a NYM is NOT required. You can select the remailers or chain
them together. JBN sends e-mail AND posts to newsgroups. Its from the same folks
that brought you the Potato DOS remailer client. Jack B Nymble is freeware!
Potato V2.3:
Potato is a DOS remailer client that works well in Windows, Which prepares
anonymous messages which are then mailed from your e-mail client.
Privtool Version
0.90:
PrivTool is intended to be a PGP aware replacement for the standard Sun workstation
mailtool,Privtool now runs on Linux, Free-BSD, Solaris, and SunOS.
Premail v
0.46-2:
For UNIX systems using Perl 5+. After setup, it manages all of the details of using the
anonymous remailers, including Mixmaster remailers. It also automatically encrypts
and signs outgoing e-mail, and decodes incoming e-mail with a single command.
Perhaps
most useful is its ability to create and manage alpha.c2.org and nym.alias.net style
nyms with good security (each remailer in the chain re-encrypts the message) and
easy commands.
Reliable v 1.0+:
Operate your own remailer. Remailer server software for Win95/98/NT which turns a
standard PC and mail account into a full Cypherpunk and Mixmaster remailer. May be
used to run a public remailer on a dialup or dedicated connection, or to run a local
system remailer for your own security benefits. Includes a full online Remailer User's
Manual with glossary of remailer terms, as well as a complete Operator's Manual.
NewsRover:
NewsRover is a off-line Usenet newsgroup reader and posting program that works well
with remailers to post private Usenet messages and e-mail
ChainMail:
ChainMail is a remailer chaining utility for Apple Macintosh users.
S-Tools-4:
S-Tools-4 is one of many steganography tools that hides messages in photos, or
sounds that could be posted to Usenet or stored on your computer. Steganography
relies on security by obscurity, If people don't know there is a message hidden, they
won't look for it.
AnonPost
:
AnonPost provides one of the easiest ways to post with total anonymity to
newsgroups. It is user friendly and straight forward. Note that AnonPost ONLY posts
to newsgroups and does NOT send e-mails. It offers a Reply-TO feature that allows
persons to respond to your posts, naturally you can put whatever replay address to
you want. Anonpost also supports X-No-Archive with a simple click. The set up
instructions are self explanatory. AnonPost is freeware.
Ghost Mail:
Ghost mail is regularly updated, often with new open SMTP servers. While the open
mail server is good in some cases, a test message should be sent to ones self to
review the headers as many times, your IP address will show up. In addition to
providing open mail servers, you can easily attach binaries for mail and newsgroup
postings (requires an open news server which they seem to keep updated as well).
We are mainly posting this program so members can obtain open SMTP servers to
send mail through using any desired mail program. This program does have an option
to where all mail and posts will go through Replays remailer giving you anonymity. For
quick, and simple anonymity, Ghost Mail is a good choice. Freeware
6. Resources:-
Free News Servers: -
Newsgroups dealing with Anonymity
alt.anonymous |
alt.anonymous.e-mail |
alt.anonymous.messages |
alt.hackers |
alt.security.keydist |
alt.security.pgp |
comp.security.pgp |
comp.security.pgp.announce |
comp.security.pgp.discuss |
comp.security.pgp.resources |
comp.security.pgp.tech |
misc.security |
sci.crypt |
sci.crypt.research |
Remailers:
Anon.Xg.Nu - Mail 2 News (via HTTPS)
A web-based anonymous usenet remailer.
https://anon.xg.nu/post.html <--- (note the ssl protocol)
There are currently only three public nym servers, for information on setting an
account at them send a blank e-mail.
Lists of reliable Type I remailers
These are available from EFGA and
Publius.net. Both lists test all known remailers for their response time and reliability.
You should use this data to pick remailers for your anonymous messages.
EFGA:
Publius.net:
Tip:
Type remailer or mixmaster in your search engine for a
list of pages containing remailers or visit
the alt.privacy.anon-server newsgroup.
Remailing Lists:
Miscellaneous
Setting Up Jack B
Nymble:
Mixmaster
Remailer Add On
Jack B. Nymble faqs
Reliable Remailer
User's Manual:
MAC scripts for setting up a NYM
on a NYM server!
Deco
ders for MAC - By following this link, you can find binary decoders for MAC
platforms. There are several to choose from.