At 11:28 AM 9/22/97 GMT, phelix@vallnet.com wrote:
On 22 Sep 1997 02:32:12 -0500, Alan <alan@ctrl-alt-del.com> wrote:
Mail is another hole. Eudora now distributes PGP 5.0 with the latest version. (This version does not do RSA keys. You can get the plug in to do those keys from PGP inc.) This is helpful, but there are many other plug-ins that need to be written. Support for remailers is lacking. Windows based code for Mixmaster is also a needed thing. A good interface would help immensely. (Private Idaho was a big step in the right direction. Integrated with a remailer people already use would be another big step forward.)
Agreed. I think Remailer support could be a big opportunity. People may not understand/care-about encryption, digital signing, etc., but they definitely understand the need for anonymity.
Give the people what they want.
Question: If a free remailer plugin for eudora is released, can the remailers handle the increased load? Are there enough remailers? People will not tolerate more than a 24 hour delay for getting their messages delivers. What about spamming?
Use hashcash, or even better, digital cash of your chosen currency. It costs 32 cents to mail a first class letter. Is it worth paying that to send an anonymous email through a chain of a dozen remailers using a Eudora plug-in, or a java applet? For some people it is, if it's made easy to do. If a thousand people used it each day, that would mean $320 every 24 hours, or $116,800 a year to be divided up amongst the 12 remailer operators. Similar possibilities exist for remailer pinging services and nymservers.
I am sure that people can think of all sorts of other ideas for needed apps. But to make them usable for the "general public", the apps will be needed to be written for Windows. (As much as I hate to think about it...)
Why not rewrite Windows? Call it Secured Windows (or S/Win). Features might include: - no swapfile, or at least one that is securely deleted each time the system is shut down - automatically overwrite __ times when deleting information from the hard drive - digital cash wallet app - S/WAN or SSH-type access to ISP - library of different encryption apps, including an easy way to quickly encrypt all sensitive files Initially S/Win would be useful for emerging ecommerce businesses, and also companies and individuals handling sensitive data (i.e., accountants, lawyers, etc.). As ecommerce begins to evolve, people doing high-value transactions (like buying stocks and other financial instruments) will want to know they aren't getting bogus stock ticker prices (a la IP-spoofing) so they don't unintentionally "sell the farm" at the wrong moment. Maybe it's a crazy idea to rewrite Windows, but seeing as so many people are familiar with it already, why not make it more useful/better/secure? When the majority of computer owners realize that their emoney transactions can be compromised on an unsecure platform like Windows, they will demand a "product" like S/Win. After all, what good is your personal Verisign certificate (a public key) -- not to mention SET -- if the corresponding signing/authentication (secret) key can be swiped off your computer by a malicious Active X control along with the keystroke sequence of your passphrase? -g "It sucks being a control freak during an information revolution."