I am seriously considering setting up a remailer, but I have a few
questions before I get into it.

Actually I am on dial up so this is impossible to do at home, the idea
is to get a server provider somewhere to host it, I am already paying
for a very small webhost for my website and it has some free space and
bandwidth available, that is when I saw the light, I don't like wasting.



1) Is it possible to set up a remailer on an Apache server without SSH
access? (Only FTP and CPanel) No need to call me names for this question
I already suspect no, but I prefer to make 100% sure.





2) It is very possible that I will soon have a shell account with root
access, could I set up a remailer there? If yes, what specs to look for
on the shell account? I would need to know what bandwidth I could expect
to consume monthly. The shell account primary use would not be remailer
but something else (low needs).





3) Now lets assume I set up the remailer on a shell account with root
access, lets assume I go as an exit remailer, which ideally I want to, a
prick sends a bomb threat, could I expect the cops to come and visit me
at home or contact my shell account provider instead?








5) So this prick gets me into trouble with my shell account provider for
sending whatever, I was wondering, do most remailer ops have their own
private server or rent shared space somewhere? Any bullet proof shell
account provider that won't terminate the account for running a remailer?







5) Best 2 links to learn how to set up a remailer?








I hope did not make it too long, thank you, and do not expect it to
happen anytime soon if ever, I am at the consideration stage and not
with many resources.




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macarro <email@is.invalid> wrote:

>
> I am seriously considering setting up a remailer, but I have a few
> questions before I get into it.
>
> Actually I am on dial up so this is impossible to do at home, the idea
> is to get a server provider somewhere to host it, I am already paying
> for a very small webhost for my website and it has some free space and
> bandwidth available, that is when I saw the light, I don't like wasting.

Remailers hosted on someone else's equipment are generally insecure.

> 1) Is it possible to set up a remailer on an Apache server without SSH
> access? (Only FTP and CPanel) No need to call me names for this question
> I already suspect no, but I prefer to make 100% sure.

No.

> 2) It is very possible that I will soon have a shell account with root
> access, could I set up a remailer there? If yes, what specs to look for

If you have root access you can do anything you want.

I rather suspect you don't understand what root access though, and
won't have it anyway. No sane shell provider would ever give you root.

> on the shell account? I would need to know what bandwidth I could expect
> to consume monthly. The shell account primary use would not be remailer
> but something else (low needs).

10,000 to 20,000 messages a day tops, times 24K, for a *very* busy
node at current traffic levels. The actual traffic you'll see is
probably well under 5000 messages a day average.

> 3) Now lets assume I set up the remailer on a shell account with root
> access, lets assume I go as an exit remailer, which ideally I want to, a
> prick sends a bomb threat, could I expect the cops to come and visit me
> at home or contact my shell account provider instead?

They'll contact your shell provider first. How would they know where
you lived if they didn't? Since you don't own the equipment they may or
may not even contact you at all depending on how educated they are
about remailers, and whether or not they think letting the remailer run
under close supervision without your knowledge might prove useful to
their investigations.

> 5) So this prick gets me into trouble with my shell account provider for
> sending whatever, I was wondering, do most remailer ops have their own
> private server or rent shared space somewhere? Any bullet proof shell
> account provider that won't terminate the account for running a remailer?

No such thing as a bulletproof account. Sorry.

Even remailers run by people with their own business/commercial account
can be brought down by their providers, but it's the best chance you
have of not falling victim to some TOS violation.

> 5) Best 2 links to learn how to set up a remailer?

1. The mixmaster man pages.

2. The mixmaster configuration file.

I know that sounds like an RTFM answer, and it is, but setting up
Mixmaster is child's play. Don't be misled by the inability of *some*
people to get through it.

If you're using an existing shell account the only thing you have to
know about mail servers is the name used to invoke yours. It's almost
always going to be 'sendmail' because almost every installation running
exim/postfix/whatever has a symlink for compatibility (just about every
piece of *nix software out there defaults to using 'sendmail' to send
mail).

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

macarro <email@is.invalid> wrote:

: I am seriously considering setting up a remailer, but I have a few
: questions before I get into it.

: Actually I am on dial up so this is impossible to do at home, the idea
: is to get a server provider somewhere to host it, I am already paying
: for a very small webhost for my website and it has some free space and
: bandwidth available, that is when I saw the light, I don't like wasting.



: 1) Is it possible to set up a remailer on an Apache server without SSH
: access? (Only FTP and CPanel) No need to call me names for this question
: I already suspect no, but I prefer to make 100% sure.


no


: 2) It is very possible that I will soon have a shell account with root
: access, could I set up a remailer there? If yes, what specs to look for
: on the shell account? I would need to know what bandwidth I could expect
: to consume monthly. The shell account primary use would not be remailer
: but something else (low needs).


shell account (with or without root) will do.

you must be able to run programms when you are not logged on,
and you might want to investigate on how many programms you can/may
run.

you preferably would have access to the mail system or have procmail
available, your provider also must allow procmail to be used to start
a programme or allow for crontab to start programms periodicaly.

: 3) Now lets assume I set up the remailer on a shell account with root
: access, lets assume I go as an exit remailer, which ideally I want to, a
: prick sends a bomb threat, could I expect the cops to come and visit me
: at home or contact my shell account provider instead?

if you register your own domain (with real contact info) they most likely
will call you instead of your hoster. (depends on jurisdiction)

: 5) So this prick gets me into trouble with my shell account provider for
: sending whatever, I was wondering, do most remailer ops have their own
: private server or rent shared space somewhere? Any bullet proof shell
: account provider that won't terminate the account for running a remailer?

--

: 5) Best 2 links to learn how to set up a remailer?

If you know how to admin a linux/freebsd system you can read the man pages,
if 'gcc' doesn't ring a bell, sorry but find an other hobby.






: I hope did not make it too long, thank you, and do not expect it to
: happen anytime soon if ever, I am at the consideration stage and not
: with many resources.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Cyberiade.it Anonymous Remailer wrote:
> macarro <email@is.invalid> wrote:
> 
>
> Remailers hosted on someone else's equipment are generally insecure.



Thanks you for very good advice to all, I do not have the technical
expertise at the moment, but I believe with the time I can make it, I
have an idea about using gcc to compile, always open to challenges
anyway, if I can't make it in the end I will always have learn some
something.

I can see why running remailers on equipment that is not on my hands is
a privacy hazard, I just have one more question based on the replies I got.


1)I can only set this up in other people's server out of my control,
will most remailer ops agree to add me to their list knowing this?



I wouldn't want to go all the way of setting it up so it can't be used
afterwards. On a side note, I recall reading on the Tor mailing list
that some people run exit Tor servers in data centers out of their
control, this would be also a privacy hazard for Tor.




Calculations:

I have worked out aprox. 5.000 messages/day x 24kb = 120.000Kb / 1000 =
120MB each day.

120MB x 30 days = 3600MB month = 3.6GB month

That VERY ROUGHLY (I know 1MB is 1024kb not 1000kb) means:

5.000 messages day = 3.6 GB bandwith/month
10.000 messages day = 7.2 GB bandwith/month

So 5GB bandwith/month spare could do the job for starters, I don't think
new remailers get popular in two days.




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[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

macarro <email@is.invalid> wrote:

> Cyberiade.it Anonymous Remailer wrote: 
>
>
>
> Thanks you for very good advice to all, I do not have the technical
> expertise at the moment, but I believe with the time I can make it, I
> have an idea about using gcc to compile, always open to challenges
> anyway, if I can't make it in the end I will always have learn some
> something.
>
> I can see why running remailers on equipment that is not on my hands is
> a privacy hazard, I just have one more question based on the replies I got
.
>
>
> 1)I can only set this up in other people's server out of my control,
> will most remailer ops agree to add me to their list knowing this?

Only if they're more concerned with marketing and image (number of
nodes) than they are with th security of the remailer network.

In other words, yes.

>
>
>
> I wouldn't want to go all the way of setting it up so it can't be used
> afterwards. On a side note, I recall reading on the Tor mailing list
> that some people run exit Tor servers in data centers out of their
> control, this would be also a privacy hazard for Tor.

Tor has a few safeguards like what essentially amounts to a CA which
make this less of an issue.


>
>
>
>
> Calculations:
>
> I have worked out aprox. 5.000 messages/day x 24kb = 120.000Kb / 1000 =
> 120MB each day.
>
> 120MB x 30 days = 3600MB month = 3.6GB month
>
> That VERY ROUGHLY (I know 1MB is 1024kb not 1000kb) means:
>
> 5.000 messages day = 3.6 GB bandwith/month
> 10.000 messages day = 7.2 GB bandwith/month
>
> So 5GB bandwith/month spare could do the job for starters, I don't think
> new remailers get popular in two days.

It will reach normal traffic levels quickly because remailers are
chosen at random (hopefully). The popularity comes into play if you're
running an exit node.


>
>
>
>
> --
>
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