WhisperSystems + WhatsApp

[rysiek]

Dnia piątek, 28 listopada 2014 01:07:36 coderman pisze:
> On 11/19/14, Andy Isaacson <adi at hexapodia.org> wrote:
> > ...
> > Have you heard of the phrase "harm reduction"?  You can't solve a
> > social/technical problem by insisting that only perfect solutions are
> > acceptable.  You must provide incremental solutions that can be part of
> > a broad based move from the horrible place where we are now, towards a
> > more safe future.
> 
> i used to agree with this, and then i realized this is bad advice if
> incremental improvements are resulting in less security over time.
> 
> said another way, if you are currently falling behind quickly, by not
> moving, then moving ahead at a walk just means you fail less soon than
> others.
> 
> everyone ends up in fail, however.

Still, I prefer to land in fail less soon; maybe in the meantime somebody 
*does* find a perfect solution I can switch to? For the time being it still 
makes sense to make sure I fail "the least soon" as I can.

> > I mean, *you* can do whatever you want, but users are going to ignore
> > solutions that don't connect to where they are today.  "Incremental
> > steps with continuous improvement" is a model for advice that actually
> > works in improving outcomes for real populations.  "Burn everything to
> > the ground and start over" is a model for advice that lets activists
> > maintain ideological purity without dirtying their hands with actual
> > people's actual problems.
> 
> i think this is only true if the magnitude of broken and incompetent
> crushes you into inaction.
> 
> if instead it spurs you to build, for years, on something of a solid
> base, then criticism must be deferred until that base is put to the
> test.

Well, "criticism" maybe, but then again should you be busy building your 
perfect solution from ground up, instead of criticising other people's 
temporary solutions today? ;)

> of course, my time spent writing rebuttal subtracted from the time
> best applied proving or denying in practice, arm chair theory inviting
> as it is...

Ah, yes. There we are. :)

There will always be different approaches to such things. Sometimes it *does* 
make sense to wait for the perfect solution; sometimes it *does* make sense to 
use harm reduction techniques. The demarcation line is *not* clear and depends 
heavily on circumstances.

Hence, throwing any incomplete solution out just because it's incomplete, 
without looking at what a particular threat model is and if maybe, just maybe, 
it can lower the threat level to people that would be otherwise completely 
exposed, is disingenuous.

-- 
Pozdr
rysiek
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