MacFormat 1996 July/macformat-039.iso/Internet Essentials/Internet Shareware/NewsWatcher 220b7/Docs/Remailer Docs/Penet anonymous help

Text File | 1996-01-20 | 23.5 KB | 713 lines | [TEXT/ttxt]

ATTN: Eudora users, please see section 8.7!
ATTN: *NO* commercial advertising except to the newsgroups that welcome
      it.  To my knowledge this only means some biz-hierarchy newsgroups.
      If you say FREE that doesn't mean it's not a commercial posting.
ATTN: Personal ad posters, DO MAKE SURE the newsgroup you are posting to
      wants personal ads.  There are *many* personals newsgroups but
      i.e. alt.sex is not for personal ads.
ATTN: If you don't get the complete help file (the last section is 8.8),
      send a message to [e-mail] with the subject: missing
      sections.


                  The anon.penet.fi Anonymous Server
                  ==================================

Index:

1) Safe Posting! (*Please read this section!*)

2) How to get an anon ID and help

3) Password
        3.1) How to set up a password
        3.2) How to use a password
        3.3) How to change your password
        3.4) Typical mistakes made in password usage

4) Mailing anonymously
        4.1) [e-mail]
        4.2) X-Anon-To: recipient

5) Posting articles to news anonymously
        5.1) [e-mail]
        5.2) X-Anon-To: news.group

6) Testing how the service works

7) Security

8) Miscellaneous
        8.1) Nickname
        8.2) Available newsgroups
        8.3) Talk of anon servers on newsgroups
        8.4) What if your e-mail address changes?
        8.5) inews error
        8.6) Mailing non-anonymously
        8.7) Eudora Users
        8.8) Deallocating your anonymous ID from the system

NEW:
#I have provided specific examples of what imaginary user [e-mail]
#would do to establish different things.  She wants a nickname "Ladylike" and
#password "45jhkg3425". She has the anon id [e-mail].

Other version of help text available in other languages:
- German text available from [e-mail] ([e-mail]).
- Italian text available from [e-mail] ([e-mail]).

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1) Safe posting!
================

Yes, another anonymous server. Why?  Well, several well-known servers have
bitten the dust recently. And most of them have served only a very limited
subset of newsgroups, and mail only to "registered", anonymous users.

Due to reasons too complicated to mention here I wanted to set up an anonymous
server for the Scandinavian user community. I got hold of a pre-release copy
of one of the server packages. As the version I got relied heavily on the
advanced features of MMDFII, I had to modify it quite a bit. While hacking
around, I removed the restriction of only supporting selected newsgroups.
Within a week of startup, the server had been discovered by transatlantic
users, and more recent stats show European users are definitely a minority.

So what does the anon server really do? Well, it provides a front for
sending mail messages and posting news items anonymously. As you send your
very first message to the server, it automatically allocates you an ID of
the form anNNN, and sends you a message containing the allocated ID. This ID
is used in all your subsequent anon posts/mails. Any mail messages sent to
[e-mail] gets redirected to your original, real address. Any
reply is of course anonymized in the same way, so the server provides a
double-blind. You will not know the true identity of any user, unless she
chooses to reveal her identity explicitly.

In the anonymization process all headers indicating the true originator are
removed, and an attempt is made to remove any automatically-included
signatures, by looking for a line starting with two dashes (--), and zapping
everything from there on. But if your signature starts with anything else,
it's your own responsibility to remove it from your messages.

The user-ID database is based on RFC822-ized forms of your originating
address. This may cause problems for some users, either because their site
is not properly registered in the name servers, resulting in
non-deterministic addresses, or because their mail router doesn't hide the
identity of individual workstations, resulting in different originating
addresses depending on which workstation you mail from. Talk to your
administrator. If that doesn't help, let me know, and I will make a manual
re-mapping.

You might wonder about the sense of using a server out somewhere, as the
song goes, "so close to Russia, so far from Japan". Well, the polar bears
don't mind, and the ice on the cables don't bother too much :-)
Well, in fact, as we live in a wonderfully networked world, the major delay
is not going over the atlantic, but my local connection to the Finnish EUnet
backbone, fuug.fi. Once you reach a well-connected host, such as
uunet.uu.net, there's a direct SMTP connection to fuug.fi. My connection to
fuug.fi is currently a polled connection over ISDN, soon to be upgraded to
on-demand-SMTP/NNTP. But for now, expect a turn-around delay of 2-4 hours for
trans-atlantic traffic.

As the server was originally intended to be used by scandinavians, it
includes help files for various languages. This works by using the
language in question as the address. So to get the german help file,
send a message to [e-mail] (or [e-mail]).
Support for new languages is added every now and then, when I find
volunteers to do the translation. Any new ones?

I have gotten a couple of comments about permitting anonymous postings to
technical groups. I can only answer that I believe very firmly that it's not
for me to dictate how other people ought to behave. Somebody might have a
valid reason for posting anonymously to a group I might consider "technical".
But remember anonymous postings are a privilege, and use them accordingly.
I believe adult human beings can behave responsibly. Please don't let me down.

And remember this is a service that some people (in groups such as
alt.sexual.abuse.recovery) _need_. Please don't do anything stupid that
would force me to close down the service. As I am running my own company,
there is very little political pressure anyone can put on me, but if
somebody starts using the system for criminal activities, the authorities
might be able to order me to shut down the service. I don't particularly
want to find out, however...



2) How to get an ID and help
============================

Send a message to "[e-mail]" to get an anonymous ID.  If you
already have an anon id, this will send you a response with your anonymous
ID in the message body.

If you send a message to "[e-mail]", you will receive this help
text.

If you want help or have some questions, send mail to "[e-mail]".
Mail to "admin" goes directly to me unanonymized, and can be used to
report problems. If you want to send mail to me anonymously, you can use
"an0" or "an1".

#Examples:
# To: [e-mail]
# To: [e-mail]



3) Password
===========

Once you have set up a password you have to use it in every single
message you send via anon.penet.fi.  It is advisable that you establish
a password right away.

3.1) To set up a password
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The password can be any string of upper- or lowercase characters and digits.

Syntax:
- -----

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           <your password>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: setting my password
#message body:
# 45jhkg3425


3.2) How to use a password
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Once you have set your password, you must include it in all your messages, in
a "X-Anon-Password:" line. As with the "X-Anon-To:" line, it can be either a
part of the header or as the first two lines of the message text.

Syntax:
- -----

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           X-Anon-Password: <your password>
                        X-Anon-To: <whoever you wish>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: my day
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# X-Anon-To: [e-mail]

If you find this is too much of a hassle, and are not too concerned about the
confidentiality of your anon ID, you may set the password to "none".  If your
password is none, you don't have to include "X-Anon-Password:" or the password
in any form.  But I must remind you that it will leave your anon ID vulnerable.
Should you wish to use a password again, you can do so by mailing the new
password to "[e-mail]".

The problem isn't that someone will find out your real e-mail address, but your
real e-mail address can be faked and ..

1) the faker finds out what anon ID you have.
2) an anonymous post by your ID is send to a newsgroup.
3) (junk/harrassing/threatening) mail is send with your anon ID to different
   people.

This someone can be your friend, a person who has seen your posts or maybe
a subscriber to the same mailing list you are on.  In the other words, that
"someone" can be ANYONE.


3.3) To change your password
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Syntax:
- -----

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           X-Anon-Password: <your password>
                        <your new password>


#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: changing my password
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# ot3erpa44word


3.4) Typical mistakes made in password usage
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you get bounced mail because of a password failure, please check to see
if you are making one or *more* of the mistakes listed below.  If you don't
recognize your mistake and you are still receiving password failure messages,
please send the *full* error message with all headers intact to
"[e-mail]".

        1) Do NOT put Subject: or other fields (i.e. To:) into the message
           body, use the header fields provided by your mailer.  Only the
           "X-Anon-To:" and "X-Anon-Password:" can put be in the message
           body and still be processed.

        2) Do not put the "X-Anon"-fields into the "Subject:" or "To:" field.
           Use the first two lines of the message body.

        3) The "X-Anon"-fields have to start at the beginning of the line.
           Do NOT put a space or tab before it.

        4) When typing the "X-Anon"-fields, put all the letters either
           in lower case or upper case.  You may capitalize the first letter
           of the three words but the use of any other combination will result
           in a failure message.

        5) "X-Anon-To:" field has to be *one* line.



4) Mailing anonymously
======================

You need to set up a password to mail users that do not have a
"an<NUMBER>@anon.penet.fi" address. (Please, see the section 3: Password
on how to set up and use a password.)

"Cc:"- and "Bcc:"-field recipients receive your letter non-anonymized as
your mailer sends those letters straight to the recipient and not via
anon.penet.fi.

There are two ways to send mail anonymously:


4.1) [e-mail]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Syntax of sending to an anon.penet.fi user:
- -----------------------------------------

Mailer's headers:       To: an<NUMBER>@anon.penet.fi
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           <X-Anon-Password: <your password> if password set up>
                        <your message here>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: sending a message
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425 <this line only if [e-mail] has already
#                              set the above password>
# blah blah blah


Syntax of sending to a known user:
- --------------------------------

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           X-Anon-Password: <your password>
                        <your message here>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: what's up?
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# blah blah blah


4.2) X-Anon-To: recipient
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This method is more secure and will preserve your anonymity better.

Syntax of sending to an anon.penet.fi user:
- -----------------------------------------

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           <X-Anon-Password: <your password> if password set up>
                        X-Anon-To: an<NUMBER>
                        <your message here>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: sending a message
#message body:
# X-Anon-To: an1
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425 <this line only if [e-mail] has already
#                              set the above password>
# blah blah


Syntax of sending to a known user:
- --------------------------------

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           X-Anon-Password: <your password>
                        X-Anon-To: [e-mail]
                        <your message here>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: what's up
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# X-Anon-To: [e-mail]
# blah blah



5) Posting articles to news anonymously
=======================================


To be able to post to newsgroups on usenet, you need to set up a password.
Please, see the section 3: Password on how to set up and use a password.

References: headers do work, so they can (and should) be used to maintain
reply threads.  If you cannot add headers, you cannot include References:

There are two ways to post an anonymous article to news:


5.1) [e-mail]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Syntax:
- -----

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           X-Anon-Password: <your password>
                        <your message here>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: IGNORE: testing
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# blah blah


5.2) X-Anon-To: news.group
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Using X-Anon-To: method enables you to crosspost. When putting multiple
newsgroups on the X-Anon-To: line, please use only a comma as a separator
without any spaces.

Syntax:
- -----

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <whatever you wish>

Message body:           X-Anon-Password: <your password>
                        X-Anon-To: news.group
                        <your message here>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: IGNORE: testing
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# X-Anon-To: alt.test
# blah blah

OR

                        X-Anon-Password: <your password>
                        X-Anon-To: news.group,other.news.group
                        <your message here>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: IGNORE: testing
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# X-Anon-To: alt.test,misc.test,comp.test
# blah blah



6) Testing how the service works
================================

If you intend to mail/post something that might cost you your job or
marriage or inheritance, *PLEASE* send a test message first. The software
has been pretty well tested, but some mailers en-route (which are out of
my control) can screw things up. And if you happen to find a problem,
*please* for the sake of all the other users, *let me know asap*.

And *please* use the appropriate test newsgroups, such as alt.test or
misc.test. Yes, *you* might get excited by reading 2000 "This is a test.."
messages on alt.sex, but I warn you that most psychologists consider this
rather aberrant...

Send a test message to

        1) [e-mail]

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: testing
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# blah blah

        2) your anon account

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: testing
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425 <only if the password is set up>
# blah blah

        3) your real e-mail address

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: testing
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# X-Anon-To: [e-mail]
# blah blah
                4) misc.test/alt.test or the like

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: testing
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# blah blah

        5) any other test message or format you can think of



7) Security
===========

Short of having everyone run a public-key cryptosystem such as PGP,
there is no way to protect users from malicious administrators. You have to
trust my personal integrity. Worse, you have to trust the administrators on
every mail routing machine on the way, as the message only becomes anonymous
once it reaches my machine. Malicious sysadmins and/or crackers could spy on
SMTP mail channels, sendmail queues and mail logs. But as there are more
than 7000 messages being anonymized every day, you have to be pretty perverted
to scan everything...

Another thing is mail failures. I've had cases of mail routers doing the wrong
thing with % addresses, "shortcutting" the path to the destination site.
This could cause your mail to go to the final destination without ever
touching my server (and thus without getting anonymized). This can be avoided
by using the X-Anon-To: method.

And if your return address bounces for some reason (nameservers down,
temporary configuration failures etc.), the original sender and/or
postmasters on the way might get error messages showing your true
identity, and maybe even the full message.

There is at least one known way to discover the anon ID of a user. It involves
being able to falsify your real identity, so it is not too easy to use, and it
doesn't reveal the real address lurking behind an anon ID, but it can be used
to discover what anon ID a certain user is using. To fix this problem, the
server requires that you use a password when you try to mail to a
non-anonymous user and when you try to post articles to news.

Crackers are just too clever. Undoubtedly somebody is going to come
up with some novel method....  Not much I can do about that...

If you intend to mail/post something that might cost you your job or
marriage or inheritance, *PLEASE* send a test message first. The software
has been pretty well tested, but some mailers en-route (which are out of
my control) can screw things up. And if you happen to find a problem,
*please* for the sake of all the other users, *let me know asap*.
(See section: 6 Testing how the service works for more information.)



8) Miscellaneous
================

8.1) Nickname
-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Your e-mail address will be a impersonal code an<NUMBER>@anon.penet.fi,
but you can choose a nickanem which will appear in parenthesis after the
code name.

This is how to set up the nickname:

Remember, you're talking to a *robot*, put JUST your desired nickname
into the subject field or otherwise you will get funny nicknames as
"set my nickname to bunny".

Syntax:
- ----

Mailer's headers:       To: [e-mail]
                        Subject: <your desired nickname>

Message body:           <X-Anon-Password: <your password> if password set up>
                        <whatever you wish>

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: Ladylike
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425 <only if password is set up>
# blah blah

To change your nickname, just send a message to "[e-mail]" with
the "Subject:" YourNewNick.



8.2) Available newsgroups
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Anon.penet.fi has all the newsgroups and can post to all the newsgroups that
aren't local to your area.  The only world-wide newsgroups anon.penet.fi
cannot post to are the moderated newsgroups, the ones that have voted not to
receive anonymous articles (there are only 5), and binary newsgroups (because
of the volume).


8.3) Talk of anon servers in newsgroups
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

If you have access to USENET and the following newsgroups, you can ask
questions of anon.penet.fi and other anonymous servers.  I follow these
newsgroups and try to answer all questions and inform of changes at
anon.penet.fi.  Questions of a more personal nature can be send to the
"[e-mail]" address.

        alt.anonymous.messages
        alt.privacy.anon-server
        alt.anonymous


8.4) What if your e-mail address changes?
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I can change the address behind your anonymous ID to reflect your new e-mail
address.

>From your new account, send mail to "[e-mail]" and include the
following information:

        Old e-mail address:
        Anon ID of the old e-mail address:
        Password of that anon ID:


8.5) inews error
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you get a bounced message stating something about an "inews" error, there
are two possible reasons for it:

        1) There is no such newsgroup, at least at anon.penet.fi.
        2) The newsgroup is moderated, so it is not possible to post to it
           the regular way.

Please, check your spelling.

If you get an "inews" error of the sort "testpost", you have tried to post
an article that has "test" in the "Subject:" field and less than 10 written
lines.  Please, submit test for the appropriate test groups such as alt.test,
misc.test etc.


8.6) Mailing non-anonymously
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you want to send mail to an an<NUMBER>@anon.penet.fi and do not want to
reveal or get an anonymous ID, you should mail you e-mail to
        na<NUMBER>@anon.penet.fi.

For example: if you want to mail a user with the anonymous ID 60 and you want to
do it in non-anonymous format (i.e. so that your real name and address appear
at the headers of the mail), then send mail to: "[e-mail]" and NOT
"[e-mail]". Do NOT include your anon.penet.fi password with this
mail!

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: testing
#message body:
# blah blah



8.7) Eudora users
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Please, do not change your configuration for the "From:" field.  If you change
the "From:" field to look like your anonymous ID, you are not completely
anonymized.  If you *must* do something to the "From:" field, just put your
real e-mail address there and let anon.penet.fi take care of the anonymizing.

In the other words, when you send your letter to be anonymized, it *MUST*
have your real e-mail address in the From: field.

#Example:
# From: [e-mail]
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: testing
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password 45jhkg3425
# X-Anon-To: [e-mail]
# blah blah



8.8) De-allocating your anon ID from the system
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

To have your anonymous ID to be removed from the anon.penet.fi system you need
to send a message to "[e-mail]".  The mail requires the
"X-Anon-Password:" field if you have set up a password.  If you cannot remember
your password send your de-allocation request to "[e-mail]".

We would appreciate it if you add a couple of lines and explain to us the
purpose for which you have used anon.penet.fi.

A word of warning concerning de-allocation.  There is a random waiting period
to catch hit & runs.  Do not think you can escape the flames by asking for
removal right after your inappropriate article.  There are those that need
the service, please do not ruin this for them!

#Example:
# To: [e-mail]
# Subject: remove my id
#message body:
# X-Anon-Password: 45jhkg3425
# blah blah

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If you think these instructions are unclear and confusing, you are right. If
you come up with suggestions for improving this text, please mail me! Remember
English is my third language...

Safe postings!

        Julf