Cypherpunk anonymous remailer
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A cypherpunk anonymous remailer is a Type I anonymous remailer 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: <Recipient Email Address> ## Subject: <Subject> <Message Text>
Step 4: Encrypt Message
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----- <place encrypted output here> -----END PGP MESSAGE-----
- Then send it.
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 remailers 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.
See also
- Anonymity
- Anonymous P2P
- Anonymous remailer
- Mixmaster anonymous remailer (Type II)
- Mixminion (Type III)
- Onion routing
- Pseudonymous remailer (a.k.a. nym servers)
- Data privacy
- Traffic analysis
Howtos and Examples
- About.com: Send Email Anonymously — Chaining Remailers with PGP
- Feraga.com: Howto use a Type I Anonymous Remailer (link not active 12 May 2010, see archive version)
Further reading
- Email Security, Bruce Schneier (ISBN 0-471-05318-X)
- Computer Privacy Handbook, Andre Bacard (ISBN 1-56609-171-3)