Printing Keys and using OCR.

Andrew Berg bahamut at digital-signal.net
Thu May 17 20:10:15 CEST 2007


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: RIPEMD160
 
Ryan Malayter wrote:
>> Aren't optical discs supposed to last for many decades if stored
>> properly and almost never used?
> Theory and practice are often far apart. The price of CD media has
> dropped so low that quality is often an issue. CDfreaks has many
> articles about this topic.
I'll check that out.
> Also, who is to say that a CD or DVD drive will even be available
> decades from now to read the discs? Could you read 8" floppy media
> on any equipment you have or can buy today? Could you find a paper
> tape machine to read data archived in the 1950s?
>
> Anything but printed characters on paper will likely require some
> form of archive maintenance over a decade timeframe.
The last 3 generations of optical discs (CD -> DVD -> HD-DVD/Blu-Ray)
have been the same size. The latest generation players support the
first generation. Floppies, for example, have changed in size, and
each generation didn't care about supporting the previous. Even as
optical discs continue to see improved formats, previous generations
will be supported. I don't see DVD or even CD support to disappear for
a very, very long time. Besides, it's not like one's hardware will
spontaneously upgrade from out of nowhere.

I do agree, though, that an electronic storage medium won't beat paper
in the long run. A piece of paper (in a locked box | out in the open)
is as secure as an unencrypted disc (in that same box | out in the
open). And encrypting a disc isn't worth the hassle, except in certain
circumstances.

- --
Windows NT 5.1.2600 | Thunderbird 2.0.0.0 | Enigmail 0.95.0 | GPG 1.4.7
Key ID: 0x60A78FCB - available on major keyservers and upon request
Fingerprint: 4A84 CAE2 A0D3 2AEB 71F6 07FD F88E 0340 60A7 8FCB
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
 
iQEVAwUBRkyaZPiOA0Bgp4/LAQNRrQgAipnZkYQ8WBQLZNm94/KiyvNGt1QDhInm
ZfAFAtuYf8Pt2ml0wMNbPI5EvQTXJ8BOtaCVbxHTZKF5PUU7RE0C40n0shtah2Gk
oDRXUHqSp/UZ+StWE7W3TcVaQgEZrXZ/bCPTDbR7wKy0jmyUGNQmbUlxcKTIY5Uv
N0Li6fb1pIvw802iRRmJZMLmLIFKf6YbwoB0vQbK0ze6uAgGWV7OGEajQnpbUuXx
yLzXisq4DbvwfJr3B/6cSyJFJf4i2bPauloQ7M2ELIRYU75ZzpvuBCwO9pJOuoxW
eplVZNykOrgfYJicv9lkwgCU8atKeWcsfP4205bUaMbfX96oIF8o+w==
=W5ua
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----




More information about the Gnupg-users mailing list