On Sat, Dec 07, 2019 at 08:59:16PM +0100, Stefan Claas via Gnupg-users wrote: > Juergen Bruckner via Gnupg-users wrote: > > Hi Juergen, > > > This question is very easy to answer. > > > > S/MIME has some advantages over (Open)PGP. > > One of them - the most important for the usual S/MIME users - is, that > > S/MIME allows the uniquely identification of a communication partner, > > which is only limitedly possible with PGP. > > > > In addition, educational institutions, such as universities, schools, > > research networks etc., have their own internal CA, which keeps the > > costs very manageable. > > Ah, o.k. with an own CA that make sense. However, I was also assuming > that students may use their certs also for 'outside' comms, which then > would require then that the other parties have always to import non- > trusted root certs, which is not the case with commercial ones, obtained > from globally trusted CAs.
Here, the University has a deal with an academic consortium to provide cert.s chained back, ultimately, to a well-known commercial provider. I just submit a CSR to a website, a globally-valid cert. is issued to me in a few hours, and my department is not billed for anything. It's probably cheaper than all the paperwork required to process a requisition and chargeback. We use this, not only for email, but for websites and other network services, where there is no viable OpenPGP-based alternative. The ability to issue email certificates was actually added later, when the Powers That Be became increasingly concerned about phishing. > > Am 05.12.19 um 23:39 schrieb Stefan Claas via Gnupg-users: > > > Sorry, I can't help you but I do have a question, if you don't mind ... > > > > > > Why are the Students at the University don't use OpenPGP with Gmail > > > via the free Mailvelope add-on for Firefox, Chrome? Wouldn't that be > > > not cheaper instead of purchasing a whole lot of S/MIME certificates? -- Mark H. Wood Lead Technology Analyst University Library Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis 755 W. Michigan Street Indianapolis, IN 46202 317-274-0749 www.ulib.iupui.edu
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