Hello Ming-Li,
Monday, November 13, 2000, 3:06:31 PM, you wrote:
ML> IMHO it's quite appropriate to leave this to third-party solutions.
ML> Typically users who are in need of encrypting their mail files have
ML> the same need for other documents or data files they have. It's
ML> neither practical nor efficient for every application to provide
ML> built-in encryption solutions.
So you are saying that only people who have in general sensitive data
on their computer would appreciate a feature to encrypt their mails.
See, I don't care if my roommate reads the paper I wrote on H.D.
Thoreau, but I DO care if he reads in my mail how much my girlfriend
misses me. And I DO care if he reads a lot of other things in my mail.
Fact is that my mail contains the most private aspects of my life,
more than anything else on my hard drive.
And here another important point: Currently The Bat offers a feature to
"lock" (is that the best-fitting word?) your mail account, so that
without a password another user cannot "unfold" it inside The Bat.
Excuse me, that is just exactly what Microsoft does for years: sell
software that APPEARS to be secure. If there is really no desire for
mail encryption, then why offer this pretence of protection?
AND: Unlike you assert it, it is neither impractical nor inefficient
for The Bat to encrypt the mail files. There is an option to "lock"
the mail folder, as mentioned above, right? For this the user enters a
password, right? So in respect to implementing the encryption all one
has to do is
a) Hash the user-password e.g. with SHA-2 to 256bit
b) Use the hash as the key to encrypt the mail files with a secure
cipher such as Rijndael (the AES winner) or Serpent.
This can be done in less than 20 code lines! And the code for this is
public domain. And the user has no extra burden, it is completely
transparent. For people who may object that there is some kind of
export regulation in some countries, you can always choose a less
strong cipher (e.g. decrease the keyspace to 128bit).
ML> Well, ask around and you'll find most people think their wishes
ML> "should go fairly quick". :)
True, I acknowledge that, and therefore, if necessary, I can offer a
sample code written in Delphi (the language of The Bat).
ML> So I'm not really against your wish.)
Thanks, I feel better now :)
Greets,
Alexander mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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