Thoughts on GnuPG and automation

[Robert J. Hansen]

> I don't known for sure about encrypted mail but it is known that 
> https connection information is recorded and stored for future 
> attacks:

Perhaps.  Plausible, even, given storage requirements for connection
information.  But storing traffic, when 99.999999% of it is good --
that's ridiculous.

The reason why I'm so fervent about stomping down on fashionable
misinformation, by the way, is because the people propagating these
things are *hurting* *people*.

Security is as much a state of mind as it is a state of reality.  Here
in the United States, violent crime is down 50% since the 1990s, and
crimes against children are down even more than that.  Yet, due to a
steady stream of awful news stories, most people feel they're in more
danger than ever before, and parents are genuinely afraid to let their
kids play outdoors.  The last time we've been this safe in our
communities was the early 1970s, and we feel like we're under siege.

That's no way to live.  When people feel like they're under siege they
act like they're under siege.  Personal relationships fray.  People stop
trusting each other.  Happiness plummets.  Suffering increases.

We face a lot of threats on the electronic front, yes.  We absolutely
need to face these threats squarely.  If we pretend a real threat
doesn't exist, that's terrible for our overall health as a society.

But if we pretend a false threat *does* exist... that's just as bad.

The possibility of widespread metadata collection is real, troubling,
and the free countries of the world need to engage in some spirited
discussion about it.

The possibility of *every encrypted communication* being intercepted and
stored for later exploitation ... is not real, and we need to stop
treating it as such.

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