Steps on Setting Up a New Anonymous Account Using Private Idaho

Last Updated on May 27, 1996

  1. You need Grab a copy of Private Idaho, if you don't have one already.
  2. Before you go through this process you should probably check to see, if someone has already taken the anonymous name that you want to use. This can be accomplished by sending an email to:
  3. Before Loading Private Idaho copy ALL of the Remailer PGP keys that are included in a file called RMKEYS.TXT. These keys should be added to your Public key ring. Add all of them. If you are looking for a program that will facilitate adding these keys, then you may want to get a copy of Aegis's PGPSHELL program. Really nice Windows based program. This Windows based shell can be obtained at http://www.aegisrc.com/
  4. Load Private Idaho and click on Update Public Key Ring from the PGP menu.
  5. If any text is in any of the fields of the Private Idaho screen, select Clear All from the Edit menu.
  6. Select Auto-close PGP from the PGP menu.
  7. Select Create alpha.c2.org.nym from the Nym menu.
  8. Read the instructions and click on the Next box.
  9. Private Idaho will step you through the process of creating an anonymous account.
  10. Type in what you want to be known as anonymously in the Nym box. For example, bozo
  11. It is NOT necessary for you to type anything into the Expanded Nym box, but you may, if you deem so.
  12. Click on the next box after entering your anonymous name.
  13. In the To: box enter your TRUE return email address.
  14. I recommend that you select ONE REMAILER when setting up your account. This will cut down on the possibilities of a remailer being down at the time. At the time of this writing remailer@replay.com was a very reliable remailer. Selecting at least ONE remailer is necessary so as to ensure a pathway for your mail to return to you.
  15. Enter a passphrase. Please note this passphrase should be DIFFERENT from the one that you use to decrypt your private mail. For example purposes, I entered whatajoke as the passphrase for bozo.
  16. You should now be at step 5. This is where things can get a bit confusing. You have ALREADY ADDED the public keys to your key ring, so DO NOT select the Add Key button. Therefore, click on the Next button.
  17. Note what happened. In the To: box, your email address has been substituted for remailer@replay.com. Also, in the message window you should now have something like the following:
  18. Note the second reply block should look like the following:
  19. Please note you just may have a totally encrypted message window. You might not see the "Request-Remailing-To: wussery@dnai.com" section. I put this intermediate step in the instructions because I believe the default setting for the PIF files that come with Private Idaho are NOT set for "Close On Exit". This can be changed, but I wanted to cover all of the bases. Suffice it to say, BEFORE you can send the file, the ENTIRE message window should have NOTHING but encrytped text within it.
  20. If you DO NOT have encrypted text within your message window, then you will probably have to select the PGP DOS session windows that are created by Private Idaho. Just click on these instances and you will be returned to Private Idaho.
  21. If you are online just click on the Send button. If you are not online, click on the Connect option in the File menu and subsequent to connecting, select the Send button.
  22. You will now have to wait for email confirmation from alpha.c2.org BEFORE you can start to use your anonymous name. This can take a day or two. However, you can confirm that your anonymous name has been added by sending an email to:
  23. If you are not notified within one day, then I would redo the whole process again or

For instructions on how to send anonymous posts to newsgroups WITH an alpha.c2.org using an EMAIL GATEWAY account, read Newsnym.faq

For instructions on how to send anonymous posts to newsgroups WITH an alpha.c2.org account, using a MAIL2NEWS GATEWAY read Newsnym2.faq

For instructions on how to send anonymous posts to newsgroups WITHOUT an alpha.c2.org account, read News2nym.faq

For instructions on how to send Anonymous Email using Private Idaho's Nym Funtion, read Mailnym.faq.

For instructions on how to send Anonymous Email using Private Idaho WITHOUT an alpha.c2.org account, read Mail2nym.faq.

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