key question

[Paul Richard Ramer]

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On Mon, 8 Mar 2010 18:31:41 +0000 MFPA wrote:
>> I am also assuming that the user has intelligence and judgment. 
> 
> A useful combination, sadly not common enough (-;

Better than useful, it is essential. :-)

>> I mean that he must be able to realize that he needs to be competent
>> in the tool that he is using. How could a person of judgment believe
>> that he could have the minimum knowledge of how to use cryptography
>> and his OpenPGP tool, and believe that he will successfully protect
>> his privacy?
> 
> Even intelligence and judgment together do not necessarily lead to
> perfect decisions. The point when the user *thinks* he has sufficient
> knowledge or competence does not automatically coincide with the point
> at which this is true.

Good judgment will lead to good decisions.

>> I have been naive before.  But I didn't begin using GnuPGP while I was
>> still naive about it.  I studied how cryptography and OpenPGP worked,
>> how to use gpg, and how to use it with e-mail and files.
> 
> Many people are less patient than you must be; I have heard numerous 
> people advocate the "ready, fire,aim" approach to life.

The "ready, fire, aim" approach leads to missed targets and the death or
injury of bystanders.  Uh . . . metaphorically speaking, of course.

>> That is what I was saying in the previous posting.  Someone who desires
>> privacy will do what it takes to get it.  That includes dispelling his
>> naivety with knowledge.
> 
> Which is an ongoing process. An individual desirous of privacy is 
> likely to continue finding new threats and/or new protections for as 
> long as they care to keep looking.

Knowledge is the first step to wisdom.  You can have knowledge without
wisdom, but you cannot have wisdom without knowledge.

>> As for the person not realizing how easy it would be to accidentally
>> upload a public key to a keyserver, I was never that naive.  I was aware
>> of it from the beginning.  My key wasn't on the keyservers, initially (I
>> chose to upload it later).  But I knew that if I was careless it could
>> wind up there.
> 
> Were you aware because of something you read, or because of 
> experimentation?  

Neither; I deduced it.  Also no one told me about traffic analysis, but
I deduced it and later read about it.


- -Paul

- --
Lex Luthor:        Miss Teschmacher, people can read _War and Peace_ and
                   think it's a simple adventure story.  Others read a
                   gum wrapper and unlock secrets of the universe.

Miss Teschmacher:  Lex, what has chewing gum got to do with secrets of
                   the universe?

Lex Luthor:        Right.  Right, Miss Teschmacher.

 --From the movie _Superman_

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| PGP Key ID: 0x3DB6D884                                              |
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