Bulletproof Linux and Related Issues

[Leo Mauler]

--- On Mon, 9/29/08, Jon Pruente <jdpruente at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 11:35 AM, Oren Beck
> <orenbeck at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The only comment beyond my lead in for rethinking
> > client/server security is an admonition of ethics.
> >
> > If we lived in a world like RMS envisioned we'd
> > need no passwords.
> 
> I like to think he was wrong on that.  Passwords 
> are like locks on doors, as the saying goes "they 
> keep an honest person honest", even if a criminal 
> can just break the door in.  Locks don't just keep 
> the baddies out, they help maintain a degree of 
> expected privacy and security.

I've sometimes referred to ROT13 as the E-mail equivalent of a snail-mail envelope: its easy to "steam open", but it still takes a little effort to read the contents, so it offers a little privacy for the contents.