Zimmermann/NSA debate postponed

[hughes@ah.com (Eric Hughes)]

   It seems to me that a prerequisite for a transparent, secure mail system
   is an efficient, interactive, IP based key distribution system.  

Wait!  Reconsider!  The problems of doing public key distribution are
large, and not yet solved.  Don't wait for a perfect world before
trying to make a better one.

The PEM folks got bogged down for four or five years with key
distribution, only to need to put out version 2.0 because of lack of
acceptibility.  You need not repeat their mistake.  Assume that key
distribution happens somewhere else, and simply use the keys in some
repository.  Manual key distribution will work just fine for common
correspondents, and that's most ofthe problem.

Eric