What Does an Anubis Mailer Session Look Like?




	%  I contact the Anubis Mailer with my user agent; a secure 
	   session is negotiated.  All further communications this 
	   session are conducted in the session key.

	% I declare myself to be FOO.

	%  The Anubis Mailer looks up the public key of FOO from N key 
	   servers, where N is a small random number.  

		! If it cannot get an answer from N different key servers, 
		  it will inform you of this and only transmit ringer text 
		  for the session.

		! If the majority of key servers disagree about your key, 
		  it will inform you of this and close the connection.  		

	%  The Anubis Mailer will grab a random piece of text from its text 
	   store and encrypt a challenge to you in your public key + it's 
	   private key.   It will send the challenge to you along with its 
	   public key of record.

		!  Periodically the Anubis Mailer will query key servers about 
		   its own public key of record.  If it finds key servers in 
		   majority disagreement, it will notify everyone who connects 
		   to it of this fact.  At this point, a user could choose to 
		   have his or her agent send only ringer messages and close 
		   the session without meaningful information exchange.

	%  You decrypt the challenge,  encrypt it in your private key + the 
	   mailer's public key and send it back.  The Anubis mailer compares 
	   the two messages.  

		!  If they are not identical, the mailer will inform you of 
		   this and only ringer text will be transmitted for this 
		   session.  The mailer may also generate a message for FOO, 
		   informing FOO that a key spoofing attempt has taken place.

	

%  At this point, your identity is confirmed with the Anubis Mailer for 
   this session.   You may:

	%  Transmit outbound messages for anonymous remail.

	%  Collect messages bound for you.

	%  Transmit control strings embedded in ringer text:

		! Ask that the IP address you are coming from be added
		  to the contact list.

		! Set the frequency of the contacts

		! Set the volume of the contacts

		! Set your default pickup info for this session:
			*  this Anubis Mailer
			*  this Anubis Zone
			*  a particular newsgroup in alt.anubis.msgs
			*  a particular newsgroup outside alt.anubis 
			   hierarchy (can be abused, use with care)