LOAF version 0.01
=================

LOAF is a method of sharing your address book without completely destroying your
privacy.  LOAF files use a data structure called a Bloom filter to encode all of
the email addresses you have sent mail to within a certain number of months.
It's easy to check a LOAF file to see if a particular email address is contained
within, but it's very hard to reverse engineer one and reveal the full list of
emails it contains.  Bloom filters have some nice properties that make them
resistant to a dictionary attack - see http://loaf.cantbedone.org/about.htm for
a full discussion of LOAF theory.

LOAF works by attaching a small file to each outgoing email you send, and
monitoring your incoming email for LOAF attachments.  These attachments are
automatically stored away in one of two folders - a 'trusted' area for people
you have corresponded with before, and a 'strangers' area for people who are
unknown to you.

Each incoming mail is tested against the LOAF files of all the people in your
trusted folder.  If the sender has corresponded with one of your friends before,
a header is added to the email to indicate the number of matches, and the
addresses that matched.

For a detailed description of the algorithm, see the yet-to-be-written
documentation in LOAF.pm,or visit http://loaf.cantbedone.org.


INSTALLATION

See INSTALL

DEPENDENCIES

This module requires these other modules and libraries:

  Carp
  Digest::SHA1
  DateTime
  DateTime::Format::Mail
  Email::Find
  Email::Folder
  File::Spec::Functions
  MIME::Base64
  MIME::Parser
  MIME::Tools
  Net::SMTP
  
 
COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

This program is free software, released under version 2 of the GPL (General
Public License).

Copyright (C) 2004 Maciej Ceglowski, Joshua Schachter