[Mailman-Developers] Mailman and GPG.

[Chuq Von Rospach]

At 2:42 PM -0500 11/8/00, Barry A. Warsaw wrote:
>IMO, encryption and security will never
>passed the Grandma Test: could it be easy enough to understand and do
>correctly that your grandmother would use it?

this is a place I disagree with Barry -- I think it will, but not 
until it's as easy to use as the web and email is. Which means the 
client authors need to decide it's necessary to integrate into the 
client tools, and serious enough about it to integrate in a non-geeky 
way (i.e., Eudora's PGP plug-ins ain't it). That means serious user 
interface design and integration.

And I think it will -- but not soon. Why? the U.S. recently made 
digital signatures legally binding. that means encryption. And once 
people start needing (or wanting) digital signatures, that'll drive 
the integration of encryption. Until that happens, though, it'll 
continue to be a niche technology. A crucial one, but not one you can 
easily explain to mom and dad.

This is a job for the client tools. It can be and should be done. But 
I don't see it happening soon, and I see government's globally 
fighting it every step of the way...

-- 
Chuq Von Rospach - Plaidworks Consulting (mailto:chuqui@plaidworks.com)
Apple Mail List Gnome (mailto:chuq@apple.com)

Be just, and fear not.