[liberationtech] 15 years later, why can't Johnny still not encrypt?

[carlo von lynX]

On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 12:58:37PM +0000, Tempest wrote:
> > a direct, demonstration / walk through is a very different learning
> > experience compared to manuals and command lines staring back at you
> > from the abyss.
> 
> we're past that though. there is gui implementation of gpg. the "hard"
> part largely comes down to it being a new concept for novices.

no, there are several unnecessary problems that people are confronted
with specifically with pgp. you are talking as if the 15 reasons
weren't there and weren't real. we're just making things up.

> again, i'm not taking issue with the notion that installing and using
> gpg is dificult. i take issue with the reckless headline that states it
> shouldn't be used, particularly given what is stated in the op-ed. "math
> is tough so you shouldn't learn it." sounds silly, no?

you are making that claim, not me. i am saying there are better tools.
instead of insisting on a broken horse carriage, start building a car:

	1. get a peer review because they deserve it
	2. get better UI and UX because it *can* be done
	3. get your hands dirty improving code
	4. produce packages for f-droid and other OS distributions
	5. use software that doesn't mess up if you click the wrong thing

you can reach me on both pond and retroshare, to name two of them.

what i am saying is that if they aren't peer reviewed enough that is
not an excuse to stick with horse carriages but a reason to start
working on it. after all it's a feasible path to take, while fixing
pgp over smtp is impossible.

remember when skype got popular? it took johnny five minutes to start
having end-to-end encrypted chat and telephony. too bad it was a
commercial product so they broke it a year or two later - but it
was the proof of concept that it can be achieved. sure, doing it
without trusting a company is more difficult, but i named several
tools that solved that problem.