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1 Mixmaster version 3 -- anonymous remailer software -- (C) 1999 Anonymizer Inc.
2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3
4 PREVIEW VERSION --- WARNING: THIS SOFTWARE IS UNDER DEVELOPMENT!
5
6 This program consists of
7
8 * a remailer client:
9
10 The remailer client supports sending anonymous mail using Cypherpunk
11 and Mixmaster remailers, managing pseudonyms at Newnym nym servers
12 and receiving mail anonymously from Cypherpunk remailers. It supports
13 OpenPGP encryption (compatible with PGP 2, PGP 5 and up, and GnuPG).
14
15 The client can be used with a menu-based user interface and with
16 command line options.
17
18 * a remailer:
19
20 The remailer supports the Cypherpunk and Mixmaster message formats.
21 It can be integrated with the mail delivery system of Unix-based
22 computers or use the POP3 and SMTP protocols for mail transfer.
23 Mixmaster includes an automated abuse-handling system.
24
25 Please report any problems via the bug and patch trackers at
26 http://sourceforge.net/projects/mixmaster/
27
28
29 Installation:
30 ------------
31
32 Libraries:
33
34 Mixmaster uses the cryptographic library OpenSSL. If you want to use
35 the menu-based user interface, you also need the ncurses library. If
36 these libraries are not installed on your system, get them from
37 ftp://mixmaster.anonymizer.com/ and extract them in the Src
38 directory first.
39
40 The Perl Compatable Regular Expressions library can be obtained from
41 ftp://ftp.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/programming/pcre/
42
43 The zlib compression libraries can be obtained at
44 http://www.gzip.org/zlib/
45
46 To install or upgrade Mixmaster, type `./Install'.
47
48 Mixmaster uses lists of currently operating remailers and information
49 about their reliability. You can get the current remailer lists from
50 http://stats.melontraffickers.com/ and http://anon.efga.org/ and via
51 finger from nym.alias.net:
52
53 pubring.asc Type 1 remailer keys
54 pubring.mix Type 2 remailer keys
55 rlist.txt List of reliable type 1 remailers
56 mlist.txt List of reliable type 2 remailers
57 type2.list List of known type 2 remailers (optional)
58
59 If you wish to participate in the Remailer Abuse Blocklist, you will need
60 to obtain the blocklist file from http://www.paracrypt.com/remailerabuse/
61 and place it in your Mix directory. This may be automated with cron.
62
63 For support for multiple RAB services, edit the file Src/config.h manually,
64 and add additional block files to the existing line, such as:
65
66 #define DESTBLOCK "dest.blk rab.blk rab2.blk rab3.blk"
67
68 Note that only the first file should the the local block list, as it is the
69 only file mix will open for writing. Most users will not need to edit
70 config.h.
71
72
73 Using the remailer client:
74 -------------------------
75
76 To use the menu-based user interface, simply run `mix'. To send an
77 anonymous or pseudonymous reply to a message from within your mail or
78 news reader, you can pipe it to `mix'.
79
80 The interactive mode supports sending mail, manages pseudonymous
81 accounts at nym servers and contains a simple mail reading function.
82 OpenPGP messages are encrypted and decrypted automatically. It can
83 also decrypt messages encrypted to ordinary non-anonymous OpenPGP keys
84 if you use the same passphrase for the nyms as for the OpenPGP key.
85
86 In the non-interactive mode, Mixmaster reads a message from a file or
87 from its standard input. The command line options are described in the
88 manual page (mix.1).
89
90
91 Mixmaster as a remailer:
92 -----------------------
93
94 The Mixmaster remailer can be installed on any account that can
95 receive mail. Non-remailer messages will be delivered as usual. If
96 you have root access, you may want to create a new user (e.g.,
97 `remailer') and install Mixmaster under that user id.
98
99 The Install script provides a simple way to set up the remailer. More
100 information about configuring Mixmaster can be found in the manual
101 page. Typically, incoming mail is piped to "mix -RM". In a UUCP
102 setting, it may be useful to use just "mix -R", and run "mix -S" once
103 all messages have arrived.
104
105 Announcing a new remailer to the public is most commonly done by posting
106 the remailer keys and capabilities to alt.privacy.anon-server as well as
107 the "remops" mailing list. Information about the remops list can be found
108 here: http://lexx.shinn.net/mailman/listinfo/remops
109
110 To upgrade from a Mixmaster 2.0.* remailer installation, make a
111 backup of your keys and configuration files before you run Install.
112
113
114 Installation problems:
115 ---------------------
116
117 In case one of the libraries Mixmaster uses is installed incorrectly
118 on your system, place the library source code (available from
119 ftp://mixmaster.anonymizer.com) in the Src directory, remove the old
120 Makefile, run the Install script again and answer `y' when asked
121 whether to use the source code.
122
123 The ncurses library can use termcap and terminfo databases. The
124 Mixmaster Install script tries to find out whether terminfo is
125 available. If you get a "Can't open display" error when starting
126 the Mixmaster menu, run "./configure --enable-termcap; make lib/libncurses.a"
127 in the ncurses directory.
128
129
130 Security notes:
131 --------------
132
133 The ciphers and the anonymizing mix-net protocol used in Mixmaster
134 correspond to the state of the art (see the Security Considerations
135 section of the Mixmaster Protocol specification for details). However,
136 no security proofs exist for any practical cryptosystem. It is
137 unlikely that their security will be broken, but there is no "perfect
138 security". Software can also contain implementation errors. The
139 complete Mixmaster source code is available for public review, so that
140 everyone can verify what the program does, and it is unlikely that
141 security related errors or secret back doors in the software would go
142 unnoticed.
143
144 No software is secure if run in an insecure environment. For that
145 reason you must make sure that there is no malicious software (such as
146 viruses) running on your computer. Deleted files and even passphrases
147 can in many cases be read from the hard disk if an adversary has
148 access to the computer. The use of disk encryption programs is
149 recommended to avoid this risk.
150
151 Anonymous messages are secure as long as at least one of the remailers
152 you use in a chain is honest. You can use up to 20 remailers in a
153 chain, but reliability and speed decrease with longer chains. Four is
154 a reasonable number of remailers to use. Many remailer operators sign
155 their keys. You should verify those signatures with OpenPGP to make
156 sure that you have the actual remailer keys.
157
158 Anonymous keys usually cannot be introduced to the OpenPGP web of
159 trust without giving up anonymity. For that reason, this client will
160 use any OpenPGP key found on the key ring, whether it is certified or
161 not. Your key ring must not contain any invalid keys when used with
162 this program.
163
164 If you want to use a pseudonym, the client will ask you for a
165 passphrase to protect the nym database. Your passphrase should be
166 long, and hard to guess. Anyone who gets hold of your nym database and
167 private keys and can determine the passphrase will be able to
168 compromise your pseudonymous identities. Note that some operating
169 systems may store your passphrase on your hard disk in clear.
170
171 While a good client passphrase can protect your keys if someone gets
172 hold of your files, the remailer passphrase offers only casual
173 protection for the remailer keys. If you install a remailer, the
174 remailer passphrase must be different from your private passphrases.
175
176
177 Copyright:
178 ---------
179
180 Mixmaster may be redistributed and modified under certain conditions.
181 This software is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
182 ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the file COPYRIGHT for
183 details.
184
185 A license is required to use the IDEA(TM) algorithm for commercial
186 purposes; see the file idea.txt for details.
187
188 Mixmaster uses the compression library zlib by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark
189 Adler, the free ncurses library and the regex library by Philip Hazel.
190 This product includes cryptographic software written by Eric Young
191 (eay@cryptsoft.com). This product includes software developed by the
192 OpenSSL Project for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://www.OpenSSL.org/).
193 For some platforms: This product includes software developed by the
194 University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.
195
196 All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
197
198 $Id$

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