~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, On Thu, 2 Jan 1997, Alan Olsen wrote: [Excellent analysis of the "elite vs. masses" dichotomy, elided.]
Netscape is a good example of "transparent" crypto. It has problems though. How many sites do you connect to that use SSL? Damn few I will bet. How many encrypt everything, not just the "important stuff". Next to none. Why? Getting a secure server costs a fair chunk of change. It is possible to get one for "non-commercial use", but it is still going to cost you a bit for the certificate needed to run the server. ($295 bucks and the list of hoop to jump through. Verisign usually wants you to be a corporate entity.) Any chance of a CPunk CA coming into existence any time soon?
We at C2Net bundle a Thawte certificate with our Stronghold secure server for only US$545. Stronghold is available free for non-commercial use and a stand-alone Thawte certificate is just US$100. A hundred bucks plus home-grown code tweaking is a low hurdle to entry for non-commercial users. For commercial users, of course, the cost of a secure server and certificate is self- liquidating. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~