NPR : E-Mail Encryption Rare in Everyday Use

[Chris Palmer]

Peter Saint-Andre writes:

> http://www.saint-andre.com/blog/2006-02.html#2006-02-27T22:13

1. Anonymity does matter. You might have heard of a little thing called
the First Amendment. ;) It's great that you're proud of what you say,
but no matter how proud you are, there could be bad, unfair consequences
if you say certain things and/or if you have a certain identity. A
little wisely-used anonymity can further an honest debate (such as
debating what should be in the Constitution!) and protect people from
low-power groups.

2. Email signing, alone, gives you only pseudonymity.

3. I see on your site you use and advertise for CACert. I hope CACert's
signing cert(s) are never trusted by my browser, because then my browser
would trust any cheap-ass random pseudonym in the world. Which brings us
to my next point...

4. Identity is not, and can never be, a substitute for a real judgement
about goodness. That I sign my messages doesn't make them any smarter;
many good and helpful comments come from such forgeable identities as
"Steven Bellovin" and "Ben Laurie". Even fake names that look
ridiculously fake, like "StealthMonger", sometimes send useful
information. When you "immediately discount what that person says", you
are doing yourself an unfavor.


-- 
https://www.eff.org/about/staff/#chris_palmer

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