Why nothing works <g> [Was: Mandatory sig workaround]

[shamrock@netcom.com (Lucky Green)]

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Roy wrote in response to Tim:

>Tim, just for fun, what tools would need to appear to make it possible
>for you to sign your traffic?  Maybe a description will inspire some of
>the Macheads out there to get hacking.  (the astute reader will note
>that I'm not suggesting new tools to the erstwhile Mr. May, as has been
>done so often in the past)

There is no hacking in the world that could create the kind of tool that
would be needed to satisfy Tim. What would be required to satisfy Tim can't
be done and I think that most long time CP's are be well aware of that. We
have had this discussion over and over for many issues (PGP, MIME,..) for
the last two years.

The problem isn't that there are no tools for Tim's Mac, the problem is
that there is _no way_ to do all these things on Netcom's UNIX host.

1. Tim: "I can't do any of the new things you are proposing because I don't
have the tools."
2. Some CP: "Just download your mail to your local machine and process it
there. There are many great ways to automate this on a Mac."
3. Tim: "I don't want to have to download mail for processing. I want to be
able to do it all on Netcom's machine."
4. Some CP: "Just run PGP on Netcom's machine and process the mail there.'
5. Tim: " Using PGP on a shared machine is a security risk."
6. Some CP: "Just use a low security key on Netcom to sign your messages."
7. Tim: "PGP on a timeshare is worse than nothing. It gives a wrong sense
of security. "
8. Some CP: "Since you don't want to do it on the host and you don't want
to do it on another machine, there is no way for you to do it."
9. GOTO 1.


No, the above is not a quote of an acctual exchange, but rather an
abreviated version of what I gathered from reading hundreds of messages and
dozens of threads.

YMMV,

- --Lucky


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