NPR : E-Mail Encryption Rare in Everyday Use

[John W Noerenberg II]

At 5:58 PM -0800 2/24/06, Ed Gerck wrote:
>A phone number is not an "envelope" -- it's routing information, just like
>an email address. Publishing the email address is not in question and
>there are alternative ways to find it out, such as search engines.

Oh really?  Then you should be able to send a note to my gmail address.

At 1:11 PM -0800 2/25/06, Ed Gerck wrote:
>Arguments that people give each other their cell phone numbers, for example,
>and even though there isn't a cell phone directory people use cell phones
>well, also forget the user's point of view when comparing a phone number with
>a public-key.

And that distinction is?

To me a cell-phone number is a string of characters, and a public-key 
is - a string of characters.


>Finally, the properties of MY public-key will directly affect the 
>confidentiality
>properties of YOUR envelope. For example, if (on purpose or by 
>force) my public-key
>enables a covert channel (eg, weak key, key escrow, shared private key), YOUR
>envelope is compromised from the start and you have no way of 
>knowing it. This is
>quite different from an address, which single purpose is to route 
>the communication.

And if (on purpose or by force) your cell-phone number is being 
monitored by an eavesdropper, MY call is compromised from the start 
and I have no way of knowing it.

There is no difference.
-- 

john noerenberg
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   All actions are wrought by the qualities of nature only.
   The self, deluded by egoism, thinketh, "I am the doer."
   -- Bhagavad Gita
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