Eric Nystrom wrote:
What are some effective strategies for securely introducing "newbies" to the world of cryptography and anon remailers?
I have found that rather than promoting encryption and anony remailers, that it is much more effective for me just to be aware of when someone mentions a problem they are having that can be solved by crypto/remailers. I always try to give them a short list of what is required to use various options, and what is gained by them. The biggest thing to me is to try to point them toward a level of technology that they are capable of using, or will be capable of learning, given the level of their problem. The following remailers are ones I recommend for totally newbie computer wrestlers who need a graphic interface and have access to a browser. http://www.myemail.net/anonymous.htm http://www.ozemail.com.au/~geoffk/anon/anon.html
My question is this -- is it better for the crypto community in the long run to have more people using encryption, but perhaps insecurely, or to have fewer users whose communications are more cryptographically secure?
My opinion is that the more people who use encryption with an understanding of what level of security they are getting, then the more people who will eventually graduate to higher levels of security when using crypto. If teenagers use crypto to keep their private diary safe from little brother or sister's prying eyes, then they will begin to learn more about it at an early age. If little brother or sister is a computer whiz, and cracks their diary open, then they will get a valuable life lesson that may save them from more costly lessons in the future. Also, if a wide range of people are using crypto, whether it is strong and secure or not, then there will be a larger group of people interested in the government or their employer not interfering with their use of it. -- Toto "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre" http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html