STEED - Usable end-to-end encryption

[Mark H. Wood]

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 11:24:40AM -0400, Robert J. Hansen wrote:
> On 10/24/11 11:15 AM, Mark H. Wood wrote:
> > No one can desire salvation until he believes that he is in jeopardy.
> 
> Although hellfire-and-damnation preachers are a popular cultural idea,
> they're really quite rare: most preachers go more for the John 10:10
> angle [*].  They've found through centuries of proselytization
> experience that things work better if you pitch the benefit of the
> faith, rather than the hypothesized penalties if you live without it.

And I agree with this.  The problem with applying the turn-or-burn
sermon to proselytization is that it requires that the audience
already believes in sin and hell, and that the problem is one of
raising awareness.  Unbelievers...don't believe.  It is fortunate to
such efforts that an argument couched in terms of benefit is available.

> The relevance here should be plain: we need to pitch the benefits of
> confidential and assured communications, not the hypothetical penalties
> if they fail to take our advice.

So, in the absence of any threat, what exactly *are* those benefits?

The cited passage asserts that the hearer is missing out -- he could
have more than he has now.  How much more can I get out of email by
using crypto?  What do I get, if I don't believe that my privacy is
threatened or I do not value privacy?

-- 
Mark H. Wood, Lead System Programmer   mwood at IUPUI.Edu
Asking whether markets are efficient is like asking whether people are smart.
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