17 Dec
2003
17 Dec
'03
11:17 p.m.
ogr@wyvern.wyvern.com (Jason Plank) said:
Phil Zimmerman solved this problem by supplying the source code for his product. You can see for yourself that there are no backdoors.
This helps, but is imperfect. How many people will read their particular copy in sufficient detail to ascertain that there aren't any obvious backdoors added by e.g. a sneaky archive site maintainer, or some sneaky cracker who found a way to modify the archived copy? Furthermore, even close reading won't absolutely *guarantee* the lack of backdoors in all cases, even if the reader is an expert on relevant subjects. We'll all continue to use software despite lack of absolute assurances, but it's worth keeping in mind what the situation is. Doug