Re: PGP in Eudora and other mail programs

[tallpaul@pipeline.com (tallpaul)]

On Jan 25, 1996 11:54:46, 'tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)' wrote: 
 
 
 
> 
>(I understand from this list that Eudora for Windows is now doing this
much 
>more automatically, that someone has a PGP-in-Eudora package. I don't
think 
>it was from Qualcomm, but I could be wrong. As a Macintosh version user, 
>I'm hoping this comes to the Mac version as well.) 
> 
[REPOSTED FROM ALT.PRIVACY.ANON-SERVER] 
> 
>John Doe is a Windows program that makes creating and  
>operating a Nymserver account a *lot* easier 
> 
>A Nymserver allows you to: 
> 
>* Create an address of the form your-choice@alpha.c2.org 
>* Cannot easily be traced back to you 
>* Your Internet Service provider cannot snoop on you 
>* Can post to Usenet and Mailing Lists 
>* Your correspondents do not need to do anything special 
>* Can receive replies addressed to your pseudonym 
> 
>These facilities have been available for some time but  
>John Doe simplifies operation. 
> 
>This is a "try before you buy" version expiring 30 days  
>after installation. The registered version is only 15 
>pounds (UK) that's about $25 (US) 
> 
>More information and a download are available on: 
> 
>http://www.compulink.co.uk/~net-services/jd.htm 
> 
>Steve Harris - Net Services 
> 
 
I then posted to alt.privacy.anon-server the following preliminary review: 
 
I downloaded a trial version of John-Doe and have been playing with it for
a day. 
 
Herewith my initial impressions of it: 
 
Downloading it from the source: as described. easy. 
 
Performing basic installation on my hard disk: essentially automated.
should not trouble or even hassle anyone with even a marginal knowledge of
Windows. 
 
Performing installation as WinsockApp in my Pipeline e-mail software:
moderately easy to impossible. Pipeline uses an odd e-mail system that
automatically fills an empty SUBJECT field with the phrase "[NO SUBJECT]"
that jams everything and caused every test message I sent to bounce back to
me. However, I then downloaded a copy of Eudora Light to use with John-Doe.
This seems to be working. I really hated the need to do this and the extra
hassle but it is not a specific bug in John-Doe. (On the other hand Steve,
since installation programs are constantly being improved even to deal with
other company's brain-damaged software ... Hint, hint, hint...) 
 
Does it work as Steve says: as far as I can tell, yes. 
 
Overall impressions (very preliminary): John-Doe is a classical example of
how elite technology pulls mass technology in its wake. PZ developed PGP
and got it widely out, even if the command line structure kept most people
from learning it. Then other people (penet not included here) developed
Mixmaster etc. tech that worked well but was so complex that only an
estimated 500 people worldwide could use it. Then other people developed
front ends for PGP etc., like PGPSH and Private Idaho. Finally, people like
Steve develop real front ends for the complex tech that puts the ability to
use the previously elite tech in the hands of people who want the earlier
complexity to disappear. 
 
I suspect that John-Doe will go through the normal new-product cycle --
discovery of bugs, slight improvements, and then better integration of user
needs. Ultimately, as the product matures, I think that Steve's John Doe
will be seen as a revolutionary development in privacy equal to (in a far
less technical but more end-user way) PZ's original PGP. 
 
 
 
-- 
tallpaul 
 
"To understand the probable outcome of the Libertarian vision, see any
cyberpunk B movie wherein thousands of diseased, desparate and starving
families sit around on ratty old couches on the streets watching television
while rich megalomaniacs appropriate their body parts for their personal
physical immortality." 
     R. U. Sirius 
     _The Real Cyberpunk Fakebook_