Ken Landaiche writes

I have seen that any system a human can devise, another human can eventually break.

False. Most cryptographic algorithms these days are secure. Windows NT is secure.

This leads me to believe that eventually we will have to begin acting on our honor,

Walking through a security hole on a computer is not necessarily dishonorable, though many dishonorable things can be done once you are through that hole.

and provide severe consequences for dishonorable behavior.

If "we" provide "sever consequences" then we are not relying on honor, but on coercion. I

haven't finished working out what "honor" means in this social context.

So I see. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we James A. Donald are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. jamesd@netcom.com

Ken Landaiche:

I've been vaguely following the thread, which seems to be attempting to close a loophole in port 25. Assuming you succeeded, wouldn't a clever demon hacker simply find another way to forge messages?

Probably. The only thing this would do is make forging a mail message a non-trivial operation. It in no way makes forging an email message impossible, it just makes it a little bit harder than telneting to the smtp port.

This leads me to believe that eventually we will have to begin acting on our honor, and provide severe consequences for dishonorable behavior.

Like what? When identity is "weak" then honor has no meaning... jim