> The term "authenticity" usually refers to the provenance of something, > or to its origin, at least among the english-speakers i talk to.
I already don't like "authenticity", so you'll have an easy time with this one. I'm not sure "integrity" is a better alternative, though. >From Google: "Integrity: (n) 1. the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. 2. the state of being whole and undivided." dictionary.reference.com gives these three: "1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty. 2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished. 3. a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition." Neither reference suggests that integrity is a better choice. Among computer security geeks, yes, integrity clearly is the right word to use; but we have to be careful to speak to regular users in regular English, not our jargon-heavy security dialect. But that said, yes, I would love to find an improvement over authenticity! :) (Why do I dislike "authenticity"? Because it's five syllables long. A good principle in UX design is to use shorter words whenever possible: they frighten people less. Look at the Thunderbird mail compose window. "File", "Edit", "View", "Options", "Enigmail", "Tools", "Help", "Send", "Spelling", "Attach", "Save", "From", "To", "Subject". The longest word in the UI is Enigmail at three syllables.) > "authenticity" is also related to the term "authentication", which > refers to establishing someone's identity. I've never heard anyone outside of the computer security community use the word "authentication", even in law-enforcement. When a cop asks me for my driver's license he says "identify yourself," not "authenticate yourself". When sysadmins ask me to authenticate myself to the system, they usually just tell me to login. :) > Confidentiality is a clearer, narrower word that more > accurately describes the sort of guarantees that OpenPGP tries to > provide. Seven syllables. "Privacy" is three. If I could find a two-syllable word, I'd use it. _______________________________________________ enigmail-users mailing list enigmail-users@enigmail.net To unsubscribe or make changes to your subscription click here: https://admin.hostpoint.ch/mailman/listinfo/enigmail-users_enigmail.net
