Disk Partition

zvrba at globalnet.hr zvrba at globalnet.hr
Sat Oct 8 21:05:27 CEST 2005


On Sat, Oct 08, 2005 at 02:06:31PM -0400, Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> 
> But most people are ineffectively paranoid. They worry about eavesdropping,
> snooping, interception of their e-mail, but they absolutely refuse to do
> anything about it. I know no one personally that uses encrypted e-mail.
> 
encrypted e-mail is.. well.. a problem because it has to be bilateral. while
*I* do want to use encrypted email, I can't force anyone to send an encrpyted
email to me. most of the people just don't want to bother with it.

I think that, in current situation, the best an individual can do is to be
consistent: have everything completely encrypted. not just some partitions
or files. everything. always. imho, having partially encrypted stuff is the
worst situation an individual can put (him|her)self into if (s)he is
actually trying to hide something from a known attacker (i.e. not just
protecting a laptop from random theft).

as for all people encrypting their emails.. i'm laughing at the idea. not
because there's something wrong with it, but.. just think of all the lost keys,
emails, data and users blaiming the whole world except themselves for their
data loss. i mean, people can't learn not to open unannounced binary
attachments (therefore the viruses), let alone manage and safeguard their
cryptographic keys.

BTW, I'm using encrypted email when communicating about confidential
stuff related to my past work. I was actually the one that requested
secure communications and the other guy was actually quite surprised
by the request.

I mean, when people "that should know better" get surprised when
requested to use encrypted email in confidential communications, imagine
an "ordinary" guy thinking "it won't happen to me". add to that the fact
that encryption still is (sometimes more, sometimes less of) a hassle to
LEARN, set up and use properly - you get the situation as it is now :)

>
> Surely, no one with that attitude would encrypt the stuff on their computer
> hard drives, backup tapes, etc. It is like the weather. Many people talk
> about it, but no one does anything about it.
> 
haha, good point :)
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