-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Eric wrote:


>> I think the real flaw there--what keeps
>> me so uncomforable with it (even though my gut tells me it's a logical
>> conclusion)--is reflected in the sheer number of people I've seen change
>>their minds once they found out a little more about how insecure they really
are.

>We call these people hobbyists.  The size of the hobbyist market will
>never be more than a fraction of the size of the appliance market.


Interesting points, but it might have been useful if I had been more clear that
the kind of people I end up affecting aren't "granny and sis", rather
people I know from work and classes: scientists, mathematicians,
engineers, economists, larval policy analysts with any-of-the-above backgrounds.

Not "sheeple", just uninformed. Not really interested in computers for their
own sake (part of what I think you mean by hobbyist), but as a tool to get 
their analytic work done.  Whatever you want to call that, I certainly seem
to have met plenty of them who were receptive to crypto, once presented with
the right set of facts.

Everyone who posts here must have their own stories of how they became
passionate about encryption (or at least interested enough to think posting
about it is a worthwhile way to pass time). If you remember back to whatever it
was that made you take a stand, surely it's not too much of a stretch to
figure out what to present to other like-minded people to interest them as
well.  

There's no reason it has to be a waste of time, as Tim implied. If you
have the slightest scrap of value for someone, telling them about their 
vulnerablities when they're completely blind to them is the only decent thing
to do. If they don't feel like listening to you, of course they're on their
own, but I wouldn't feel right saying nothing. Sometimes just e-mailing a link
or two at the right time will do it: it costs me next to nothing and gets more
people to use privacy tools and PGP, where's the downside. 
Give it a try, you might be surprised.


~Faustine.


***

The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedoms.
- --William O. Douglas, Associate Justice, US Supreme Court

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPsdk version 1.7.1 (C) 1997-1999 Network Associates, Inc. and its 
affiliated companies. (Diffie-Helman/DSS-only version)

iQA/AwUBO/nN5Pg5Tuca7bfvEQLoyACfYZBl0YF/dvMh9YoinMvyslyv8BkAn2W4
LG28NSGiL1R23cldZdFGnKJ8
=h0Sw
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Reply via email to