anon.penet.fi closed!

anon.penet.fi closed!

[Gill Bates]

PRESS RELEASE
30.8.1996

Johan Helsingius closes his Internet remailer

Johan Helsingius from Helsinki has decided to close his
Internet remailer.  The so-called anonymous remailer is
the most popular remailer in the world, with over half a
million users.

"I will close down the remailer for the time being
because the legal issues governing the whole Internet in
Finland are yet undefined. The legal protection of the
users needs to be clarified. At the moment the privacy
of Internet messages is judicially unclear."

The idea of an anonymous remailer is to protect the
confidentiality of its users' identity. The remailer
itself does not store messages but serves as a channel
for message transmission. The remailer forwards messages
without the identity of the original sender.

Finland is one of the leading countries in Internet
usage. Therefore all decisions and changes made in
Finland arouse wide international interest.

"I have developed and maintained the remailer in my free
time for over three years now. It has taken up a lot of
time and energy. Internet has changed a lot in these
three years - now there are dozens of remailers in the
world, which offer similar services."

"I have also personally been a target because of the
remailer for three years. Unjustified accusations affect
both my job and my private life" says Johan Helsingius.

He surmises that the closing of the remailer will raise
a lot of discussion among the Internet community. "These
remailers have made it possible for people to discuss
very sensitive matters, such as domestic violence,
school bullying or human rights issues anonymously and
confidentially on the Internet. To them the closing of
the remailer is a serious problem", says Helsingius.

Child porn claims proven false

Last Sunday's issue of the English newspaper Observer
claimed that the remailer has been used for transmitting
child pornography pictures. The claims have been
investigated by the Finnish police. Observer's claims
have been found groundless.

Police sergeant Kaj Malmberg from the Helsinki Police
Crime Squad is specialized in investigating computer
crimes. He confirms that already a year ago Johan
Helsingius restricted the operations of his remailer so
that it cannot transmit pictures.

"The true amount of child pornography in Internet is
difficult to assess, but one thing is clear: We have not
found any cases where child porn pictures were
transmitted from Finland", Kaj Malmberg says.