'Frog' was born on November 1st, 1999.

Strong cryptography (128 bits) became legal in France this spring,
and that long-awaited cable connexion allows me to enjoy a 24/7 link at a decent price.

It was not an option for me to procastinate.
I had to run one of those anonymous remailers which, nearly as old as Usenet,
are the quintessence of it, for what is the best (and sometimes the worst) in it.
Installation and startup took no more than 48H.
(I have to admit I had been an anonymous remailer user for 'some time',
and I had been beta-testing 'Reliable' software since spring.

Indeed, there is a network of nearly 40 'public' remailers operating in the world to-date,
on different platforms: Windows (Reliable) or *nix (Mixmaster, Freedom, Ghio).
Two other remailers with French-speaking operators were born soon after 'Frog':
     Lefarris in Québec
     Cameleon in an undisclosed area
while those tools were mainly operated by anglo-saxons (USA UK),
but also Finns, Dutch, Germans, Poles or Japanese.
The country which claims to have invented 'les Droits de l'Homme' was notoriously behind....

If I have 'some' knowldedge about computers, nor PC nor Internet are my speciality.
Little financial means are necessary (a computer, a preferably fixed connection, a firewall).
What is really needed,
-it is some free time to operate the system,
    -key changes linked to remailer births and deaths here and there
    -a fast, efficient and steady answer to various complaints
-it is mainly a fair amount in faith in mankind,
    so that you keep in sight the benefits (generally immaterial) brought by total free speech
    as opposed to its backsides (generally obvious).

All that is summed up in page Why use Anonymous Remailers?
And some specific cases are discussed in F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions).
For me and for other remailer operators, that dispute is settled:
Advantages (even merely imagined) derived from an operational remailers network
are worth its inconveniences (even hard-proven), without contest.
To the point, as non-profit and as a private person, to spend bandwidth, processor activity and free time on it.
Indeed, it is an act of faith....
Or of distrust in the system.
Sure a step both strictly personnal and about global solidarity.