Click here to Skip to main content
15,884,176 members

Welcome to the Lounge

   

For discussing anything related to a software developer's life but is not for programming questions. Got a programming question?

The Lounge is rated Safe For Work. If you're about to post something inappropriate for a shared office environment, then don't post it. No ads, no abuse, and no programming questions. Trolling, (political, climate, religious or whatever) will result in your account being removed.

 
PraiseRe: Mini CCCs 186 Pin
Randor 16-Jun-20 1:50
professional Randor 16-Jun-20 1:50 
RantWhat year is this? Pin
PIEBALDconsult15-Jun-20 15:09
mvePIEBALDconsult15-Jun-20 15:09 
GeneralRe: What year is this? Pin
Rage15-Jun-20 19:47
professionalRage15-Jun-20 19:47 
GeneralRe: What year is this? Pin
Super Lloyd15-Jun-20 20:11
Super Lloyd15-Jun-20 20:11 
GeneralRe: What year is this? Pin
musefan15-Jun-20 20:47
musefan15-Jun-20 20:47 
GeneralRe: What year is this? Pin
PIEBALDconsult16-Jun-20 3:55
mvePIEBALDconsult16-Jun-20 3:55 
GeneralRe: What year is this? Pin
Super Lloyd16-Jun-20 3:57
Super Lloyd16-Jun-20 3:57 
GeneralRe: What year is this? Pin
kalberts16-Jun-20 4:57
kalberts16-Jun-20 4:57 
What year is this, when people still accept unencrypted email?

It must be 25 years ago when I asked a certificate provider for a free X.509 email certificate. I received it as a small file I could doubleclick, and that was it: Encrypted email installed.

But I had only a small handful of friends who cared to do the same. Almost all of my contacts said: Encrypted email - what's that? I don't think I know how to do it.

Today it isn't much different. Except for one thing: A great share of users do not download their encrypted email to their PC, where it can be decrypted at the destination. Rather, their mail is kept at some remote web server, accessed through a web interface that accepts plaintext only; the browser is not capable of accessing my certificate for doing the decrypting.

I did keep my email certificate for a number of years. Then I switched to another ISP and mail service, which gave me a mail address with a domain part that differed from the mail server's domain. That lead to my mail client asking me every time I applied that certificate to confirm that the messages from that "strange" mail server was trustworthy. I asked the ISP for help with this; they ignored the request: Email is not one of our primary services. I could have gone to another email provider, a new email address again ... By that time, practically all my friends had abandoned encryption. It really wasn't worth the effort, with me as the only one caring for end-to-end mail encryption.

Why haven't we moved in the opposite direction? End-to-end email encryption was super-simple to set up. There were several providers of free certificates (as long as all it confirms is the validity of the email address, it doesn't require costly checks but can be automated). But appearently, nobody cares. Is it that satisfying to be able to complain about others sending us passords in plaintext email, when we could have offered the sender a safe way to send it, but we didn't care to?
GeneralReally??? Pin
Kevin Marois15-Jun-20 10:16
professionalKevin Marois15-Jun-20 10:16 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
MarkTJohnson15-Jun-20 10:18
professionalMarkTJohnson15-Jun-20 10:18 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Kevin Marois15-Jun-20 10:19
professionalKevin Marois15-Jun-20 10:19 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
johnadam202015-Jun-20 20:12
johnadam202015-Jun-20 20:12 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Rick York15-Jun-20 21:05
mveRick York15-Jun-20 21:05 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Richard Deeming15-Jun-20 22:33
mveRichard Deeming15-Jun-20 22:33 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
David O'Neil15-Jun-20 10:32
professionalDavid O'Neil15-Jun-20 10:32 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
enhzflep15-Jun-20 17:54
enhzflep15-Jun-20 17:54 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
jeron115-Jun-20 10:34
jeron115-Jun-20 10:34 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Sander Rossel15-Jun-20 21:49
professionalSander Rossel15-Jun-20 21:49 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
jeron116-Jun-20 5:30
jeron116-Jun-20 5:30 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Roland M Smith15-Jun-20 10:40
Roland M Smith15-Jun-20 10:40 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Jörgen Andersson15-Jun-20 20:44
professionalJörgen Andersson15-Jun-20 20:44 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Sander Rossel15-Jun-20 21:52
professionalSander Rossel15-Jun-20 21:52 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Jörgen Andersson15-Jun-20 22:12
professionalJörgen Andersson15-Jun-20 22:12 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Sander Rossel15-Jun-20 23:19
professionalSander Rossel15-Jun-20 23:19 
GeneralRe: Really??? Pin
Jörgen Andersson15-Jun-20 23:20
professionalJörgen Andersson15-Jun-20 23:20 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.