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To: PJ Strifas who wrote (29298)	12/13/1999 1:37:00 PM
From: Paul Fiondella	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Zero-knowledge offers privacy service Secrecy Service Is to Go Online, Sparking Concerns About Abuse By DON CLARK Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Is there money in selling pseudonyms? A closely watched Canadian start-up will soon find out. Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. (www.freedom.net) Monday began limited sales of an unusual service that is designed to protect Internet users' privacy by letting them choose fictitious names for activities such as sending e-mail, visiting Web sites or joining online-discussion forums. The closely held company takes its name from the fact that it won't have the ability to link people's real identities with their pseudonyms, even if ordered by a court. That means Zero-Knowledge's system could be used to anonymously send abusive or libelous mail, or discreetly transfer pirated software. In such cases, the company can block mail accounts associated with particular pseudonyms, but has limited ability to help law enforcement track offenders. Some other services that remail users' messages to offer anonymity have been forced by courts to give up information about their customers. "Zero-Knowledge has no data it can reveal," said Austin Hill, the company's president and co-founder. "Our best defense is we don't know." The benefits outweigh the potential for abuse, the company argues. Many people want greater privacy on the Internet, including those who want to express unpopular opinions in chat rooms or cruise to Web sites without leaving electronic footprints. Dissidents in totalitarian countries are another inspiration for the service, Mr. Hill says. Zero-Knowledge, Montreal, was founded in 1997 by Mr. Hill and his brother and father. Lead employees include chief scientist Ian Goldberg, a former University of California researcher known for cracking sophisticated security codes. The company's service, dubbed Freedom, uses encryption technology that has long been regulated by U.S. agencies to prevent their use by criminals and foreign governments. Users download special software that lets them pick pseudonyms and scrambles their messages and Web connections, in a scheme akin to placing a letter in a series of envelopes. The packets of data are passed through three independent Internet services, each of which strips off a layer of identifying information to prevent tracing them back to the senders. Mr. Hill says Zero-Knowledge chose to remain in Canada to minimize entanglements with U.S. regulations on encryption. He said he has briefed Justice Department officials on the service and hopes to meet with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Jonathan D. Wallace, a New York lawyer and software executive who has written about Internet anonymity, said the service wouldn't appear to violate any U.S. law. Yet government agencies and private litigants could pressure the company to block particular messages or prove that it has no customer information. "It still has certain risks," he said. For $50, Zero-Knowledge sells users the right to set up and use five pseudonyms for a year. Although it officially opens for business Monday, the company is limiting sales to 10,000 new users a week until February to make sure the service operates reliably, Mr. Hill said.