[Discuss] email privacy/security

[Richard Pieri]

Tom Metro wrote:
> But S/MIME encryption is better than either.

No, it's not IF you value privacy. First problem with S/MIME is that it 
depends on a certificate authority to issue X.509 certificates. We all 
know how uncompromisable these are. Second problem with S/MIME is that 
it's still susceptible to traffic analysis (I HATE the use of 
"metatdata" for this because it isn't metatdata). "They" may not know 
what you're saying but they know who you're saying it to, when, and how 
often.

That said, it's not so much about valuing privacy (or anonymity) as it 
is how much you value it. Sometimes traffic analysis is an acceptable 
situation. For example, when I had to communicate with Rohr it was 
effectively public knowledge: they were a contractor for the Venture 
Star programme and we were specified as a software provider for the 
programme. Anyone who cared could find that out easily enough. Keeping 
the data private was the important thing.

-- 
Rich P.