Michael Ströder wrote:
It can also work for normal users. The problem is that both ends of
the communication channel have to be willing to do the preparation
work needed.
"Michael Ströder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
The biggest obstacle preventing people to use S/MIME (or even PGP) is
that they don't have to. They are not forced by security policies,
business contracts etc. to encrypt their e-mail. So they simply avoid
additional work. This cannot be solved technically.
If people would have to use it technical solutions which are more
usable could be easily provided (like public PKC repositories).
It's a job for Boiling Frog University(tm).
For those who aren't familiar with this infosecurity metaphor, they say
that if you drop a frog into boiling water it will immediately jump out,
but if you start it in cold water and gradually heat it to boiling, the
frog will sit there while it boils to death => as threats increase
gradually people just accept it.
When the Internet was a World Wide Faculty Club, large numbers of
non-academics knew that they could make good use of it. That didn't mean
that they took the initiative to figure out how to get Internet access
(remove the pain of not having Internet access.) Someone had to take
them by the hand and guide them into the Internet, which was thus
transformed from WWFC into popular media.
It will take more than ease of use to make S/MIME commonplace. It will
take a protracted, well planned, well executed educational effort to get
it to where it reaches the flash point, after which the adoption curve
will look like fax in 1980.
Wes Kussmaul
boilingfrog.edu
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