| Abstract: | The internet is being used for a number of illicit purposes including: the dissemination of child pornography, cyber-stalking, on-line defamation, copyright infringement and the destruction of trade secrets. Many of these illicit activities have proliferated in recent years because of the increasing use of anonymous remailers. Originally intended to provide anonymity for political dissidents and to assist the discussion of sensitive matters such as abuse or the spread of sexual disease, remailers are now widely used for less noble purposes. A remailer strips the identification marks off an e-mail and replaces it with marks of its own. By combining a chain of remailers with the use of encryption technology, an author can now post messages to Usenet and send e-mail with almost perfect anonymity. Although the majority of anonymous remailers currently exist in Western democracies, the fact that any civil libertarian, commercial operator or criminal can turn their computer into a remailer raises international concern. If strict liability is imposed on remailer operators, it will force these remailers to shut down, only to later reopen in 'fraud-friendly' foreign jurisdictions. This paper will critique the leading academic legal literature regarding anonymous remailers. It will then propose the need for international regulation, while at the same time ensuring the confidentiality concerns of legitimate remailer users. |
