A
Beginner's Guide to Anonymous Posting
How to Contribute Intelligently to the Conversations
in a.d.p.c.
Without Bringing the COPS to Your Door
Here's all the dope you need to:
Get and install Private Idaho
Get and install PGP
Set up a nym.alias.net account (or weasel.owl.de account)
Set up Private Idaho to post to alt.drugs.pot.cultivation
This guide has three sections:
Getting the Software
Creating a NYM.ALIAS.NET
Account
Posting through the nym. with mail2news@anon.lcs.mit.edu
Getting the Software
Anonymity, privacy, and security are each separate
issues.
See the URLs below for a good start on getting some peace
of mind.
For nym.alias.net home page:
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~raph/n.a.n.html
For PGP encryption software:
http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp-form.html
For Private Idaho software (makes nym.alias.net setup
and remailers easy):
http://www.eskimo.com/~joelm
Remailer information:
http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~raph/remailer-list.html
Also you can add "x-no-archive: yes" without
the quotes as the first line of your posted message. The
post will not be archived by DejaNews, etc.
HINTS:
Get PGP but don't install it or unzip it.
Get Private Idaho version 2.8b3, don't get a previous
release.
Read any readme and other files you can find with
Private before installing it. Part of the installation of
Private Idaho can include letting Private Idaho install
PGP for you.
My advice is not to start off setting up a nym or
using encryption, it'll just get you in deep water.
First- get PI to work with straight email, without any
encryption, just straight email. Send yourself a couple
messages and receive them with your regular email program
to confirm it's working OK. Then make sure PI can
interface with your browser. Then click on the
Remailers|Update Remailer Info menu options while online
to make sure the remailer data is fresh (you will do that
frequently). You'll see the date under the remailer box
change.
Second- Use PI to write a small message, encrypt it,
and send it to yourself. Then use the PI Message|Scan for
PGP Messages menu options to scan your mailserver for the
PGP message. Then do the same through one of the
remailers. When you have received the message in PI and
decrypted it then you can start in on the wonderful world
of nyms:-)
Creating a nym.alias.net Account
Instructions to create a NEW nym with PI 2.8b2. Will
use nym.alias.net for the examples that follow. The same
exact instructions can also be used with the
weasel.owl.de nymserver.
For a remailer will use remailer@cypherpunks.ca.
The instructions assume that all the remailer and nym
public keys are on your public keyring. From PI KEYS menu
click INSERT KEY IN MESSAGE if the window lists many keys
(about 30) the keys needed are most likely there, click
CANCEL.
PI SETUP FOR THE BELOW INSTRUCTIONS TO WORK
Under the PGP menu make sure AUTO-CLOSE PGP and WORD
WRAP ON ENCRYPT/SIGN are the only ones checked.
Under NEWSGROUPS, NONE is checked.
Decide on the names to use, for example:
Nym Name: peanuts
Expanded Nym name: Nutty Guy
Email address would be: peanuts@nym.alias.net
Email address w/Expanded nym name is: Nutty Guy
<PEANUTS@NYM.ALIAS.NET>
Send blank email to list@nym.alias.net. In a short
time you will receive a reply with a list of Nym Names
that are being used. Make sure your nym name is not on
the list.
CREATE A PGP KEY FOR THE NYM
From PI KEYS menu select CREATE KEY PAIR (DOS window
appears)
1-Select the 1024 key option
2-Enter User ID for public key. eg: Nutty Guy
<PEANUTS@NYM.ALIAS.NET>
3-Enter Passphrase (write it down too)
4-Follow instructions to randomly hit keyboard keys
5-After prompted to stop, WAIT for beep and dots on
screen to stop.
(Leave DOS window)
Check to make sure your new key, the Nym key, and the
remailers key are on your keyring.
1-In PI KEYS menu, select INSERT KEY IN MESSAGE and look
at the list for your newly created key "Nutty Guy
<PEANUTS@NYM.ALIAS.NET>", for the Nym key
"<CONFIG@NYM.ALIAS.NET>/<SEND@NYM.ALIAS.NET>",
and for the remailer key "John Anonymous MacDonald
Remailer <REMAILER@CYPHERPUNKS.CA>"
Then click CANCEL.
Do the following things before starting the nym
creation process, it helps make the process easier.
1-In PI REMAILERS menu make sure CYPHERPUNK is
checked.
2-In PI REMAILERS,ADVANCED CYPHERPUNK menu make sure only
the ENCRYPT TO REMAILERS and USE LATENT TIME options are
checked.
3-Enter your real email address in the PI To: box.
4-In the Remailer Name box highlight
remailer@cypherpunks.ca or another reliable remailer to
use in your nyms' reply block.
CREATE THE NYM
In PI NYM menu click on CREATE NYM...
1-Select nym server
<CONFIG@NYM.ALIAS.NET>/<SEND@NYM.ALIAS.NET>
2-Enter your Nym Name, then enter the Expanded Nym Name
Click next Go To Step 3 (PGP key for nym already exists)
3-Click next (real email address is already in the TO:
box)
4-Click next (remailer is already highlighted)
5-Enter Passphrase
6-Click next (Nym key is already on keyring)
The Advance Remailer Options box appears. 1-Make sure
Latent Time is set at +0:00, if it isn't change it.
PI shells to DOS.....DOS opens & closes
Select User ID from the list of public keys. This is
the key you just created "Nutty Guy
<PEANUTS@NYM.ALIAS.NET>"
In Windows 95 at this point the program may appear to
stall. If so look at the taskbar for a box with an MS-DOS
icon and Private Idaho written in it (you may also see a
"Step 6" box in the taskbar). The MS-DOS box
should be the active box, click on it to finish the DOS
operation. DO NOT click on the "Next" box of
the step 6 window for a second time. If your taskbar is
hidden you can use ALT+TAB to find the MS-DOS icon. After
clicking on the MS-DOS box DOS will finish then ask you
for a passphrase.
Enter a passphrase in the DOS window, and press Enter
to finish the nym request.
AT THIS POINT:
the message has been encrypted
config@nym.alias.net is in the To: box
remailer@cypherpunks.ca is highlighted in the remailer
box.
PREPARING THE MESSAGE FOR REMAILING
From the PI MESSAGE menu select APPEND INFO. The
message is further encrypted for the remailer and
remailer@cypherpunks.ca is now in the To: box.
Click the SEND button if connected to the mailserver.
Or mail the message to remailer@cypherpunks.ca later.
In about an hour an encrypted email will arrive saying
the nym has been configured. If you have mail waiting on
your mailserver at this time don't retrieve it with the
regular email program. Instead load PI while online and
select MESSAGE, SCAN FOR PGP MESSAGES. It will only
remove PGP messages from the server. Then highlight the
message and click Decrypt in the PGP Messages window. If
you find another encrypted message within the first
select PGP, DECRYPT MESSAGE.
This email will contain a special email address
(usually a long number). It must be sent to activate the
nym. To do so: 1-Save the message with FILE, SAVE
MESSAGE..,
2-Copy and paste the special email address into the To:
box.
3-Select EDIT, CLEAR MESSAGE to clear the Message box.
4-Highlight remailer@cypherpunks.ca in the remailer box.
5-Select MESSAGE, APPEND INFO
6-Click on the SEND button.
In a short time another encrypted email will arrive
confirming that you nym is activated and can be used.
NOW-Click PGP, OPTIONS, and check the box that says
"Prompt for user ID on signing". Then click on
the USER IDs button and enter the nym ID. For example:
<PEANUTS@NYM.ALIAS.NET>
***IF IF IF IF IF IF***
If you don't get the first encrypted email, send another
message to list@nym.alias.net to see if the new nym name
has been added to the list. Sometimes it will appear on
this list but the email can take a long time (up to a
day). Just be patient, if the name is on the list you're
nym has been created.
POSTING THROUGH THE NYM WITH
mail2news@anon.lcs.mit.edu
Posting to newsgroups with nym.alias.net, Private
Idaho, and mail2news.
Have noticed a lot of folks having trouble, or going
through many contortions in order to post to usenet
through a mail2news gateway using Private Idaho and
nym.alias.net. I've had no problems doing this and will
share my way of posting in this message.
I'll assume you use the final release of PI 2.8b3
dated 1/7/97, since it fixes some of the nym bugs in the
previous release. If you use 2.8b2 you can upgrade to
2.8b3 by downloading "only" the new Pidaho.exe
file from their web site (just replace your existing exe
file with it to upgrade). I'll also assume your existing
nym setup is working properly.
Here's what I do.
1-From the PGP menu click on OPTIONS then click the
USER ID'S button. Enter your nym address as one of the
Multiple ID's then put a check mark in the "Prompt
for user ID on signing" box. When entering your nym
address only use the part within the angled brackets
(include the brackets), for example
<YOURNYM@NYM.ALIAS.NET> is how the entry will look.
2-Either create a text file with the headers below, or
use the EDIT, OPTIONS menus to enter the headers to be
used with the EDIT, Insert header or Insert signature
options.
--cut--
From: YOURNYM
Nym-Commands: -acksend
To: mail2news@anon.lcs.mit.edu
Newsgroups: alt.drugs.pot.cultivation
Subject:
x-no-archive: yes
References: FOR REPLYING TO A POST PUT ITS "MESSAGE-ID" NUMBER HERE.
--cut--
Of course replace any words in upper case with those
applicable to you or your post. You can remove the
"Nym-Commands", "x-no-archive", and
"References" lines if you wish not to use them.
If you want to reply to a post use the
"References" line and put that post's
Message-ID number there, if not replying remove the line.
That's the end of the setting up, below is how to use
it for posting.
3-Put the header at the top of the PI Message box,
leave a blank line under it, then type your post.
4-Make sure send@nym.alias.net is in the TO: box, then
click on the PGP menu option and select ENCRYPT AND SIGN
MESSAGE. You will be presented with a list of User ID's
to use for signing. Select the one that matches the
nymname you're using for the post (if you have more than
one).
Whamo Bhamo it is done. Now just send as usual through
your remailer(s).
You might want to put a check mark next to "Word
wrap on encrypt/sign" in the PGP menu so word
wrapping is done automatically. With latency at +0:00 I
see posts on my news server in 1 to 3 minutes on the
average, your milage may vary.
HTML'd by NPKaye
http://npkaye.home.ml.org
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