PGP problems

[David Gaskill]

On Fri, 4 Aug 2000 16:00:13 -0700, Steve Lamb wrote:

>On Fri, Aug 04, 2000 at 03:47:17PM -0700, Froggyball wrote:
>> As I said before, even if I send out 100% of my e-mails encrypted,
>> approximately 100% of the people I normally communicate with would refuse
>> to install/use PGP
>
>    False.  I know there are a dozen or so people on this list alone.  You're
>having corrispondence with us right now and will have such in the future.
>Furthermore you're also making a general statement about /all/ future
>corrispondence you /might/ have.  

To be fair, he did say  * approximately* 100% of the people he normally 
communicated with. It may well be that he doesn't normally communicate with 
any of the dozen you cite.

>    Simply stated, you can't prove a negative.  You cannot say that everyone
>you email now and ever will email will never, ever, use it.  

But he didn't say that. 

He said approximately 100%. This might reasonably be thought to encompass 
99%. I would guess that this is approximately the proportion of people with whom 
I exchanged e-mails who would decline to encrypt their correspondence.

>> (Nor do I care. Not yet anyways. I do not want anyone reading my e-mail,
>> nor do I think it is appropriate for them to do so, but I cannot envision
>> any harm or embarassment or loss of reputation from anyone doing so
>> either. And what does this have to do with freedom???? As far as I know,
>> at least in this country, I can run out on the street and shout almost
>> anything I want without persecution. Anything I personally care say in
>> private, I can say in public without fear of censor or imprisonment).
>
>    As history has proven time and again it is thinking like this that causes
>problems.  "I'm fine... /NOW/."  What about tomorrow?

There are people who live a self-sufficient existence in the remote hills in order to 
avoid the consequences of what they believed to be the imminent collapse of 
civilisation. Of course they might be right but I think this is sufficiently  unlikely to 
justify me in continuing to buy my food at the supermarket.

The same reasoning leads me to continue to use un-encrypted e-mail. 

David





David