A
cypherpunk
A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change. Originally communicating through the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list, informal g ...
anonymous remailer is a Type I
anonymous remailer
An anonymous remailer is a server that receives messages with embedded instructions on where to send them next, and that forwards them without revealing where they originally came from. There are cypherpunk anonymous remailers, mixmaster anonym ...
that takes messages encrypted with
PGP or
GPG, or in some cases in plain text, and forwards them removing any identifying information from the header.
Sending a Cypherpunk Message
Step 1: Retrieving the remailer's Public Key.
:Generally you can get a Cypherpunk remailer's public key by sending an email message with the subject "remailer-key" to the server you wish to use.
Step 2: Import remailer's public keys into
PGP or
GPG.
Step 3: Compose Message
:Compose the message in your favorite text editor, using the following template:
::
Anon-To:
##
Subject:
Step 4: Encrypt Message
:Use
PGP and/or
GPG to encrypt the message that you just composed using the remailer's public key.
Step 5: Send Encrypted Message to Remailer
:Prepare an email to send to the Cypherpunk remailer using the following template:
::
Encrypted: PGP
-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----
:Then send it.
See also
*
Anonymity
**
Anonymous P2P
An anonymous P2P communication system is a peer-to-peer distributed application in which the nodes, which are used to share resources, or participants are anonymous or pseudonymous. Anonymity of participants is usually achieved by special routi ...
**
Anonymous remailer
An anonymous remailer is a server that receives messages with embedded instructions on where to send them next, and that forwards them without revealing where they originally came from. There are cypherpunk anonymous remailers, mixmaster anonym ...
***
Mixmaster anonymous remailer
Mixmaster is a Type II anonymous remailer which sends messages in fixed-size packets and reorders them, preventing anyone watching the messages go in and out of remailers from tracing them. It is an implementation of a Chaumian Mix network.
Hist ...
(Type II)
***
Mixminion
Mixminion is the standard implementation of the Type III anonymous remailer protocol. Mixminion can send and receive anonymous e-mail.
Mixminion uses a mix network architecture to provide strong anonymity, and prevent eavesdroppers and other att ...
(Type III)
**
Onion routing
Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication over a computer network. In an onion network, messages are encapsulated in layers of encryption, analogous to layers of an onion. The encrypted data is transmitted through a series of net ...
***
Tor (network)
Tor, short for The Onion Router, is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network, consisting of more than seven thousand relays, to conc ...
**
Pseudonymous remailer
A pseudonymous remailer or nym server, as opposed to an anonymous remailer, is an Internet software program designed to allow people to write pseudonymous messages on Usenet newsgroups and send pseudonymous email. Unlike purely anonymous remailers ...
(a.k.a. nym servers)
***
Penet remailer
The Penet remailer () was a pseudonymous remailer operated by Johan "Julf" Helsingius of Finland from 1993 to 1996. Its initial creation stemmed from an argument in a Finnish newsgroup over whether people should be required to tie their real name ...
*
Data privacy
Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data pr ...
*
Traffic analysis
Traffic analysis is the process of intercepting and examining messages in order to deduce information from patterns in communication, it can be performed even when the messages are encrypted. In general, the greater the number of messages observe ...
Howtos and Examples
About.com: Send Email Anonymously — Chaining Remailers with PGPFeraga.com: Howto use a Type I Anonymous Remailer
(link not active 12 May 2010, se
archive version
Notes
* The extra headers are called 'pseudoheaders' because they do not appear in the RFC 822 headers specification for email.
* Messages to Cypherpunk remailers may be layered so they route through several different Cypherpunk remailers to decrease the odds of anyone determining who the sender is.
* Some Cypherpunk remailers are also Mixmaster anonymous remailer
Mixmaster is a Type II anonymous remailer which sends messages in fixed-size packets and reorders them, preventing anyone watching the messages go in and out of remailers from tracing them. It is an implementation of a Chaumian Mix network.
Hist ...
s and can split long Cypherpunk messages into Mixmaster packets and send them to the next remailer, if it also understands Mixmaster.
* Many Cypherpunk remailer users will repeat steps 1-4 to wrap their message in additional layers to route it through several remailers for additional privacy and security.
Further reading
* ''Email Security'', Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier (; born January 15, 1963) is an American cryptographer, computer security professional, privacy specialist, and writer. Schneier is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Cente ...
()
* ''Computer Privacy Handbook'', Andre Bacard ()
Internet Protocol based network software
Anonymity networks
Routing
Network architecture
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