On Feb 02, Stephan Seitz [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote: > On Fri, Feb 01, 2002 at 03:36:13PM -0600, Jeremy Blosser wrote > > Neither of these are necessarily true. HTTPS is a good example. > > Most ebay and amazon users have no idea of any of the technical > > issues involved with using SSL, but because they use it anyway, > > their communication is more secure than it would be without it. And > > Sorry, I don't think, that's correct. > If you only see your lock that indicates a ssl connection, doesn't > mean that it uses the right key. If you don't check the key owner you > don't know if the connection is secure. > > And if you don't check it you don't need this kind of security.
Is it better/safer overall to: a) live in a world where no one has locks on their doors, except for the very few people that know how to build their own lock from scratch and check it every morning for any scratches to indicate someone tried to break in, and the robbers just skip those and go rob all the other houses with no locks or b) live in a world where everyone has locks on their doors, most of which are very easy to pick, but the robbers have to take their chances with any given lock -- and since the locks are the normal thing, and lots of time is spent on them, even the crappy locks are better than they would be in (a) The benefits of mass use of encryption are not just the obvious ones. Reality is more complicated and interdependant than that.
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