On Saturday 15 April 2006 10:23, Benjamin Lutz wrote: > On Saturday 15 April 2006 15:23, Kees Plonsz wrote: > > Is is so important to know that the question or answer came from > > that person ? I don't think so. > > Even if it were so, for me it is too much trouble to import every key > > into my key-database from a key-server. > > I sign emails for the same reason I sign my snail-mail letters with a pen. > I like providing authenticity. Whether the recipient actually checks the > signatures is not that important, important is that if the need or desire > arises, he can. > > I don't import every key I come across either, usually only those keys for > which I get signatures on a regular basis. > > > On the other hand, those who aren't able to read singed messages > > are confronted with a lot of carbage tekst wich makes the posting > > harder to read. > > Most people use PGP/Mime these days. If your mail client does not support > PGP, the signature will be surpressed or maybe shown as attachment. Either > way, that doesn't make the mail content harder to read. And if your Mail > client doesn't support Mime yet, well, that's your choice, and seeing the > signature plaintext is far from the worst inconvience you'll have to put up > with in that case. > > > We don't send postings in .html for that same reason. > > That's different. Html text means there's no readable content at all for > non-HTML mail readers. And these are quite common. > > I sign my emails for two other reasons. First, I'm advocating adoption of > PGP by everyone. I wish to sensitize people for the facts that standard > emails are neither private nor authenticated, and that you can achieve > these very important things with PGP. Frankly, I find it staggering how > many people send around confidential information in emails over the public > internet, without thinking of the consequences. > > The second reason is very personal. It takes some effort on my part to sign > email. I am not using any key agent, which means I enter my keyphrase every > time I send an email. This makes the process of sending an email more > conscious for me: I think twice whether I really want to send it. Sometimes > times I've stopped myself from sending an email I would later regret (a > flame, or an angry answer, something like that) at the signing stage. It > means that sending an email is not as much of a fire-and-forget thing for > me. I like that. > > Cheers > Benjamin
+1, well said. Nicolas. -- FreeBSD 7.0-CURRENT #1: Sat Apr 8 21:33:25 EDT 2006 [EMAIL PROTECTED]:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/CLK01A PGP? : http://www.clkroot.net/security/nb_root.asc
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