Cypherpunk anonymous remailer

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

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-----
<place encrypted output here>
-----END PGP MESSAGE-----
Then send it.

See also

Howtos and Examples

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.

Further reading

  • Email Security, Bruce Schneier (ISBN 0-471-05318-X)
  • Computer Privacy Handbook, Andre Bacard (ISBN 1-56609-171-3)
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