XPost: alt.privacy.anon-server   
   From: nobody@yamn.paranoici.org   
      
   On Sun, 19 Oct 2025 11:21:53 -0000, in article   
   <20251019112153.49ZdFGDQ7u2B@sewer.dizum.com> Nomen Nescio   
    wrote:   
      
   >Hello.   
   >   
   >What happens if people resend messages from a.a.m   
   >with the same subject header? Does the fetching   
   >software detects this as replay?   
      
   >From :   
      
   OmniMix • Tutorial • Nyms • Receiving Nym Messages   
      
   Incoming nym messages are only forwarded to users authorized to retrieve   
   them, which is why you must not forget to assign newly created nyms to   
   specific OmniMix users, at best immediately after sending the creation   
   message. Otherwise nym replies sent to your mail account aren't decoded,   
   and those posted to a newsgroup like alt.anonymous.messages will even   
   show no sign of life at all.   
      
   So go to the 'User' tab, select the respective user from the list, which   
   with a fresh installation usually is 'OmniMix', and click '=' to edit   
   that account.   
      
   A dialog window opens, where you find a list of the 'Nyms' you defined   
   within the Nym Configurator. Add a checkmark to the nym for which you   
   just sent a creation message, click 'Accept'. Always repeat that   
   procedure with the 'Nym' account, which is used by the OmniMix GUI   
   itself for example to send nym test messages from the 'ModNym' tab.   
   Otherwise such a task will be aborted with a 'Nym account not assigned   
   to given user account' error message. Finally restart the servers to   
   propagate the changes you made.   
      
   Since reply blocks may point to an email address or a newsgroup, there   
   are also two ways to collect reply messages, either from a POP3 (mail)   
   server or an NNTP (news) server.   
      
   So 'Polling' has to be activated ('Enabled' or 'Optional') for 'Mail P'   
   and / or 'NwsNym', where the first-mentioned is also required if you   
   only intend to fetch normal, non-nym mails. The option 'Disabled' means,   
   that the concerning source isn't polled, with 'Optional' OmniMix tries   
   to obtain messages from the source, but doesn't care about a failure,   
   whereas 'Enabled' insists in establishing a connection and aborts with   
   an error message sent to the mail client if the source isn't available.   
      
   With reply blocks pointing to a newsgroup it's necessary to enter the   
   parameters of a news server at the 'NwsNym' tab. When selecting a   
   suitable server you have to consider, that some of them don't keep the   
   complete set of all messages posted to 'alt.anonymous.messages'. The   
   most reliable freely accessible server I found was the one at   
   'news.mixmin.net', run by Zax, which therefore is used by OmniMix.   
      
   Different from mail coming from a POP3 server, which is deleted after   
   retrieval, nym messages routed through a newsgroup are available there   
   for a longer period of time. So OmniMix has to take notes of the   
   messages it already processed to prevent multiple deliveries. The fact   
   that each nym server chronologically assigns a strictly ascending order   
   of numbers to all messages within a newsgroup allows OmniMix to keep   
   track of its progress within the group by simply storing the number of   
   the next message that has to be interpreted. The only problem is that   
   those numbers are news server specific. Therefore especially if you're   
   experimenting with different news servers for nym message retrieval,   
   that 'Newsgroup Pointer' of the involved accounts may have been set to   
   values unsuitable for the server you're currently using. If it's too   
   high OmniMix ignores all messages offered by the server supposing   
   they've already been downloaded. So after every redefinition of the nym   
   related news server the newsgroup pointer of all nym accounts with   
   newsgroup delivery has to be adjusted! The 'Nym' log presents data,   
   which allow to estimate the correct number. Nevertheless a secure   
   alternative would be to reset it to 1, which however results in another   
   processing of all nym replies still available at the server no matter   
   whether they've already been presented to the client.   
      
   Now there are several possible ways to retrieve your nym's reply   
   messages from the newsgroup they are posted to. To download them   
   directly from there enter access parameters of the news server of your   
   choice at the 'NwsNym' > 'Server' tab.   
      
   As OmniMix doesn't buffer messages, and therefore nym message retrieval   
   from its source is only done on a mail client's request, processing time   
   has to be kept short to avoid a connection timeout initiated by the   
   client. That becomes even more evident with a slow Tor routing. To solve   
   the problem increase your client's connection timeout interval and   
   within OmniMix limit the number of newsgroups articles processed with   
   each mail request. That's what the 'Analysis Block Size' parameter is   
   designated for. It defines the maximum number of articles analyzed at   
   once in order to extract your incoming nym messages with '0' meaning no   
   restriction at all. To avoid fingerprinting that amount can randomly be   
   varied to the downside limited by the percentage defined in 'Variation'.   
   With a restriction in place you have to check repeatedly for new mail   
   till the 'Newsgroup Pointer' fields of your OmniMix account's nym   
   accounts show up-to-date numbers. In order to reread messages set that   
   pointer manually to a lower value, for example to '1' to reload all   
   available messages, which can simply be done by clicking at the 'R'   
   button adjacent to the value. But don't forget to save the changes with   
   'Modify'.   
      
   Especially while fetching only specific messages, which offers an   
   adversary valuable information, another layer of anonymization provided   
   by a conncetion through Tor is highly recommended to increase security.   
      
   But there are further options to confuse snoops. Beyond the group's   
   message catalog entries required to locate your own messages within the   
   range defined by the 'Analysis Block Size' OmniMix can also download a   
   random amount of already processed articles' so-called 'Xover' data. And   
   additional irrelevant dummy messages ('Messages') can be put between the   
   downloads of real nym replies. Furthermore OmniMix may vary the message   
   processing time ('Delay') randomly to prevent timing analyses. All that   
   has to be adjusted at the 'NwsNym' > 'Access' tab.   
      
   Nevertheless, if you aim at maximum security you have to follow a   
   different retrieval strategy, namely to download the complete set of the   
   newsgroup's postings to your computer and then to process them locally,   
   shielded from any external observer.   
      
   That's where the integrated Hamster server comes into play. It offers a   
   local news server, preconfigured to work as a buffer of the group where   
   your nym replies get posted. In freely definable time intervals it   
   contacts the external NNTP server looking for new articles and   
   downloading them.   
      
   It's very easy to get your Hamster make a move on. Go to the 'Hamster' >   
   'Run' tab and click 'Start'. And if you want Hamster to start along with   
   OmniMix check the 'Autostart' box.   
      
   After a few seconds Hamster gets active, which you can see at the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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