Prescient stuff from 1993.<p>"We anticipate that computer networks will play a more and
more important role in many parts of our lives. But this
increased computerization brings tremendous dangers for
infringing privacy. Cypherpunks seek to put into place
structures which will allow people to preserve their privacy
if they choose. No one will be forced to use pseudonyms or
post anonymously. But it should be a matter of choice how
much information a person chooses to reveal about himself
when he communicates. Right now, the nets don't give you
that much choice. We are trying to give this power to
people." [Hal Finney, 1993-02-23]<p>“Hal Finney has made cogent arguments as to why we should
not become too complacent about the role of technology vis-
a-vis politics. He warns us not to grow to confident:
- "Fundamentally, I believe we will have the kind of
society that most people want. If we want freedom and
privacy, we must persuade others that these are worth
having. There are no shortcuts. Withdrawing into
technology is like pulling the blankets over your head.
It feels good for a while, until reality catches up.”<p>“The idea here is that the ultimate solution to the low
signal-to-noise ratio on the nets is not a matter of
forcing people to "stand behind their words". People can
stand behind all kinds of idiotic ideas. Rather, there
will need to be developed better systems for filtering news
and mail, for developing "digital reputations" which can be
stamped on one's postings to pass through these smart
filters, and even applying these reputations to pseudonyms.
In such a system, the fact that someone is posting or
mailing pseudonymously is not a problem, since nuisance
posters won't be able to get through." [Hal Finney, 1993-
02-23]”<p>8.6.5. "Why are remailers needed?"
+ Hal Finney summarized the reasons nicely in an answer back
in early 1993.
- "There are several different advantages provided by
anonymous remailers. One of the simplest and least
controversial would be to defeat traffic analysis on
ordinary email.....Two people who wish to communicate
privately can use PGP or some other encryption system to
hide the content of their messages. But the fact that
they are communicating with each other is still visible
to many people: sysops at their sites and possibly at
intervening sites, as well as various net snoopers. It
would be natural for them to desire an additional amount
of privacy which would disguise who they were
communicating with as well as what they were saying.<p><pre><code> "Anonymous remailers make this possible. By forwarding
mail between themselves through remailers, while still
identifying themselves in the (encrypted) message
contents, they have even more communications privacy than
with simple encryption.
"(The Cypherpunk vision includes a world in which
literally hundreds or thousands of such remailers
operate. Mail could be bounced through dozens of these
services, mixing in with tens of thousands of other
messages, re-encrypted at each step of the way. This
should make traffic analysis virtually impossible. By
sending periodic dummy messages which just get swallowed
up at some step, people can even disguise _when_ they are
communicating.)" [Hal Finney, 1993-02-23]
"The more controversial vision associated with anonymous
remailers is expressed in such science fiction stories as
"True Names", by Vernor
Vinge, or "Ender's Game", by Orson Scott Card. These
depict worlds in which computer networks are in
widespread use, but in which many people choose to
participate through pseudonyms. In this way they can
make unpopular arguments or participate in frowned-upon
transactions without their activities being linked to
their true identities. It also allows people to develop
reputations based on the quality of their ideas, rather
than their job, wealth, age, or status." [Hal Finney,
1993-02-23]
- "Other advantages of this approach include its extension to
electronic on-line transactions. Already today many
records are kept of our financial dealings - each time we
purchase an item over the phone using a credit card, this
is recorded by the credit card company. In time, even more
of this kind of information may be collected and possibly
sold. One Cypherpunk vision includes the ability to engage
in transactions anonymously, using "digital cash", which
would not be traceable to the participants. Particularly
for buying "soft" products, like music, video, and software
(which all may be deliverable over the net eventually), it
should be possible to engage in such transactions
anonymously. So this is another area where anonymous mail
is important." [Hal Finney, 1993-02-23]</code></pre>