From: aburt@mnemosyne (Andrew Burt)
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 07:42:51 -0600
To: hkk@netcom.com
Subject: Nyx user anon2c9e
Cc: bstocker@du.edu, jtuccy@du.edu, lavita@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu, anon2c9e@nyx


Just to clear the confusion, the user, anon2c9e, is a real user on the
host nyx.cs.du.edu; mnemosyne.cs.du.edu is only a netnews posting host.
Thus, there is no "anonymous remailer" involved, only a username that is
not indicative of the user's actual name.  I.e., anon2c9e is a genuine
account, has shell access, etc.  Thus is just as real as an account
as xy231@prodigy.com or PickYourOwn@netcom.com.

Second, Nyx is a free public access system; the users are not in any way
connected with the University; many are not even geographically near it.
Users identities have been validated, however (such as by submitting a
notarized form).

Anyway, as to your request to provide information on the identity of that
user, Nyx's policy regarding providing details of *any* account (whether a
a named account like 'jsmith' or semi-anonymous like anon0000) is to
provide any publicly supplied data to anyone who asks, but only to supply
confidentially supplied data to proper law enforcement personnel.

In the case of an anon0000 account, the publicly supplied data is usually
scant, as in this case.  

Therefore I would be able to supply the confidential information you requested
to a police detective, district attorney, etc. but not directly to you.

I would add that this is the policy I personally keep on any system, and have
seen in place on many other systems, in order to protect the privacy of the
users (whether they use obscure user names or not).  As I'm sure you can
imagine, anyone could ask for such private data, so we have to have some
reasonable policy describing under what circumstances we give that out.  Nyx
users are well aware of this policy, i.e., that their privacy is protected
only to the extent that they don't violate the law.

If you would like to have me provide the data to police, etc., they can
contact me at 303-871-3308.

I will also submit this case through Nyx's problem resolution procedure,
from which you'll get a form letter explaining our various policies.  This
procedures requires the user to either defend or apologize for his
actions, or lose the account.

Let me know if you need anything further.

	Prof. Andrew Burt
	U. of Denver, Math/Computer Science
	Admin of Nyx
	aburt@nyx.cs.du.edu