Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 16:23:00 +0200 From: Benjamin Lutz <benlutz@datacomm.ch> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why are people singing there postings on this mailling list ? Message-ID: <200604151623.05589.benlutz@datacomm.ch> In-Reply-To: <200604151523.27398.kees@jeremino.homeunix.net> References: <200604151523.27398.kees@jeremino.homeunix.net>
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--nextPart2588768.si11pzXmfW Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline On Saturday 15 April 2006 15:23, Kees Plonsz wrote: > Is is so important to know that the question or answer came from > that person ? I don't think so. > Even if it were so, for me it is too much trouble to import every key > into my key-database from a key-server. I sign emails for the same reason I sign my snail-mail letters with a pen. = I=20 like providing authenticity. Whether the recipient actually checks the=20 signatures is not that important, important is that if the need or desire=20 arises, he can. I don't import every key I come across either, usually only those keys for= =20 which I get signatures on a regular basis. > On the other hand, those who aren't able to read singed messages > are confronted with a lot of carbage tekst wich makes the posting > harder to read. Most people use PGP/Mime these days. If your mail client does not support P= GP,=20 the signature will be surpressed or maybe shown as attachment. Either way,= =20 that doesn't make the mail content harder to read. And if your Mail client= =20 doesn't support Mime yet, well, that's your choice, and seeing the signatur= e=20 plaintext is far from the worst inconvience you'll have to put up with in=20 that case. > We don't send postings in .html for that same reason. That's different. Html text means there's no readable content at all for=20 non-HTML mail readers. And these are quite common. I sign my emails for two other reasons. First, I'm advocating adoption of P= GP=20 by everyone. I wish to sensitize people for the facts that standard emails= =20 are neither private nor authenticated, and that you can achieve these very= =20 important things with PGP. Frankly, I find it staggering how many people se= nd around confidential information in emails over the public internet, without= =20 thinking of the consequences. The second reason is very personal. It takes some effort on my part to sign= =20 email. I am not using any key agent, which means I enter my keyphrase every= =20 time I send an email. This makes the process of sending an email more=20 conscious for me: I think twice whether I really want to send it. Sometimes= =20 times I've stopped myself from sending an email I would later regret (a=20 flame, or an angry answer, something like that) at the signing stage. It=20 means that sending an email is not as much of a fire-and-forget thing for m= e.=20 I like that. Cheers Benjamin --nextPart2588768.si11pzXmfW Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQBEQQHJgShs4qbRdeQRAutAAJ4gliCTz2MOJ6rjIJixF6207v69ZwCeLON8 cmygu5zqI8SYESlxmPuU+xU= =flUh -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --nextPart2588768.si11pzXmfW--
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