From Newsgroup: alt.privacy.anon-server


*note: this antique but descriptive article "was last edited on 27 february 2025"
(ref. qs, jbn, pegasus, usenet, anonymous remailers, m2n... all on the same page)

(using Tor Browser 14.5.5)
(translated into english https://www.deepl.com) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail2News-Gateway

Mail2News-Gateway
A Mail2News gateway enables the publication of newsgroup articles on Usenet via e-
mail without the need for a special newsreader. The interface, the gateway, >receives the e-mail, adapts it to the Usenet format and then forwards the article
to Usenet. These gateways are most frequently used in conjunction with remailers
for anonymous posting (publishing) of newsgroup articles. This option can also be
used if you do not have access to a "good" news server.
Mail2News gateways do not anonymize news articles themselves, but publish them >almost unchanged including the received From: address (sender information in the
e-mail). The operators of mail2news also expressly point out that every article
that is forwarded via their M2N gateway - as well as unsuccessful attempts - is
logged. It should be assumed that the log file contains enough information to >find out who sent the article, even if this is not visible in the Usenet article.
In connection with remailers, of course, the original author of the e-mail >cannot be determined from the log file, but only the remailer who sent the e-mail
to the M2N gateway.
Similar to anonymous remailers, Mail2News services are also offered free of >charge. The operators are under no obligation to operate their services >continuously. Consequently, any existing M2N gateway can cease to operate without
prior notification.
Misuse
The continued existence of M2N gateways is called into question if they are >misused for illegal or generally offensive publications.
The following points apply explicitly to mail2news, precise information about >other M2N gateways can be obtained from the servers themselves.
Material may only be distributed via mail2news gateways if this is
compatible with the laws of the country in which the respective server is >located. In the USA, the laws of the state concerned also apply.
The falsification of articles is prohibited.
Articles that impair the operation of the gateway and other services of the
operator due to their size are not permitted (accordingly, the sending of several
hundred articles via the same M2N gateway in one day is also prohibited). >Queries and examples
Not all M2N gateways reach the same number of newsgroups. However, you can find
out in advance which newsgroups are served by a particular server, or determine
the availability of a particular newsgroup or a number of specific newsgroups. >The procedure for different servers may vary, so you should always read the help
text for the service you are using.
Additional header (header information)
If news postings are not transmitted anonymously to M2N gateways, the header >information of the e-mail is also used for the news article. The subject is >adopted, as is the From: line (sender email) and any other headers. The M2N >server expects a "Newsgroups:" header in every message. If it is missing, the >message is rejected and sent back to the sender ("bounced"). It is therefore >necessary to include such a header in the e-mail (always use "Newsgroups:", i.e.
the plural of the word for the header). Some e-mail programs allow you to specify
additional headers in e-mails, others do not. Under Windows, for example, the >freeware program "Pegasus Mail" makes it quite easy to use additional headers.
Anonymous Usenet posts are naturally not sent to the M2N service by the original
sender, but by a remailer. Different remailers handle the received header >information differently.
Mixmaster remailers always allow the use of user-defined headers, including >"Newsgroups:". Mixmaster can be used in conjunction with a program such as >QuickSilver or Jack B. Nymble (JBN) is easy to use.
Cypherpunk remailers that allow the insertion of user-defined headers are marked
with the property "hash" in the published remailer lists. The programs mentioned
also make work easier here.
To post anonymously with the help of Cypherpunk remailers and M2N gateways, a >simple e-mail program is sufficient in principle (the use of PGP or GnuPG for >encrypting messages is strongly recommended!)
The practice newsgroup header or address
A Usenet article that is sent via e-mail and should contain the address of the >authentic sender in the From: and Reply-To: lines is addressed to an M2N gateway.
If you have an e-mail program that allows you to add your own headers, insert a
"Newsgroups:" header. If you are replying to a Usenet article, you should also >add the "References:" header. This "References" header should contain the message
IDs of the previous articles on the topic, or at least the message ID of the >article to which you are referring. This header is required by the news servers
in order to assign the article to the correct discussion tree (the so-called >thread).
Examples:
To: m2n@beispiel.com
Subject: re: M2N-Test
Newsgroups: de.test
References: <739023783a4@beispiel.com>
(Even if there is only one group, it is called "Newsgroups:", even if there is >only one reference, "References:" must be specified).
Multiple groups are separated by commas, without spaces:
To: m2n@beispiel.com
Subject: re: M2N-Test
Newsgroups: de.test,alt.test,misc.test
References: <739023783a4@beispiel.com>
Inclusion of additional headers is not possible in the e-mail program
Even if you cannot include additional headers in your own e-mail program, news >articles can still be published via M2N servers. For this purpose, the addressed
groups can be included in the e-mail address if this is supported by the M2N >service. However, the specification of "References" is not supported here. >In the case of the M2N gateway "m2n@exa.mple": mail2news-YYYYMMDD- >[group]@exa.mple where YYYY is the current year, MM the month and DD the current
day.
A posting to DE.TEST would therefore be sent to the following address: mail2news-
20040407-de.test@exa.mple
Several groups can be separated from each other with "+". For example, to post >to ALT.TEST and MISC.TEST, send the mail to: mail2news-20030407- >de.test+at.test@exa.mple
Unsolicited advertising mail
The use of an authentic, reply-able e-mail address in news articles almost >always means that the sender will sooner or later be inundated with advertising e-
mails (spam). Various countermeasures lead to varying degrees of success. >Anyone using Mail2News gateways can protect themselves from unwanted advertising
mail by using the server's "NOSPAM" address. E.g.: mail2news_nospam@exa.mple or,
if the e-mail program does not allow user-defined headers: mail2news_nospam- >YYYYMMDD-[group]@anon.lcs.mit.edu
"Spam bots" that scan the Usenet for addresses are then (usually) fooled by the
fact that the sender address is changed, but in a way that still allows human >readers to read the authentic address and use it to reply directly to the author.
Anonymous posting
Anonymous articles, including the additional ("Newsgroups") headers, are >forwarded to the M2N gateway by a remailer. All Mixmaster remailers or Cypherpunk
remailers are suitable for this if they are identified in the remailer lists by
the "hash" property. If a chain of remailers is used for anonymization, the last
one in the chain should support the hash option.
The message body of an anonymous Usenet posting via Cypherpunk-Remailer and M2N-
Gateway starts as follows:
Anon-To: m2n@adresse.com
Newsgroups: gruppe1,gruppe2,gruppe3
Subject: Subject header of the article
Further header: As required
Text of the article...
Frequent problems
Items that cannot be posted are returned to the sender. An error message should
explain the problem, although this does not help if posting through an anonymous
remailer; therefore, do not use a pseudonym or real address.
Often the "Newsgroups" header is missing in rejected articles (see above).
In addition, newsgroups in the "Newsgroups" header are often separated from each
other by spaces, which is also inadmissible:
WRONG:
Newsgroups: alt.test, de.test, misc.test
CORRECT:
Newsgroups: alt.test,de.test,misc.test
Categories:
UsenetGateway (network technology)
This page was last edited on 27 February 2025, at 15:47.
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