-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 05/01/14 11:15, Hauke Laging wrote: > Why should I write "I will encrypt this message to 0x12345678" in every > mail which is boring, easily forgotten and error-prone if the problem can > *easily* be solved technically with much better results?
Don't write "I will encrypt this message"[1] in every mail hoping that the recipient deduces that you want to do secret stuff, and leaving them to deduce from the absence of that message that you want to do the regular stuff. Hoping that other people will infer meaning from things that are totally not apparent, /that/ is error-prone. If someone writes me a signed statement "see me tomorrow", I will show up. I will not come carrying my highly volatile nuclear concoction just because the message is encrypted. You should feel confident a signed statement is coming from the person who signed it. You can't deduce very much at all from the message arriving encrypted, I think. When the message arrives /unencrypted/ and contains confidential stuff, you could show up with a clue-bat and say "Dude, not cool, not cool", because it was obviously (within reason) sent unencrypted. But it being encrypted means nothing. The social solution is not "include some statement each and every time" but "don't deduce anything from it being encrypted". It's not a burden, it's a change of expectation. If you want to convey something to someone, just say so. Don't say "see me tomorrow", but say "I want to discuss X tomorrow with you, be sure to bring Y." HTH, Peter. [1] By the way, your statement might not even be true; how often have you written "See the attachment" and then forgetting to attach the file? I have done it countless times. - -- I use the GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG) in combination with Enigmail. You can send me encrypted mail if you want some privacy. My key is available at <http://digitalbrains.com/2012/openpgp-key-peter> _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
