LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Adam Hawes <adam.hawes@flinders.edu.au>
  To  : Richard Russell <richard@yellowgoanna.com>
  Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 18:30:07 +0930

Re: [OT] Restricted Permission Email and M$

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> > I don't see their response as a total cop out; it is
> > relatively true. If the users want to [forward secure
> > messages | thwart security | watch star trek movies] they
> > WILL find a way...
>
> The key is "really". There are emails that people would like to forward,
> but if made to click a few more times, and are reminded that the email was
> confidential/encrypted/etc, then they are less likely to do so. Remember,
> when you're talking about someone who receives a confidential email, you're
> not usually talking about someone who is trying to subvert security
> measures. The primary risk is usually that they do something
> unintentionally, or without thinking.

There are those users who WILL crack this open.  I'm sure that someone will 
even write a piece of free software that will allow us to 
view/save/print/copy/forward these messages some time in the not-to-distant 
future, but it is a hassle for me because if I receive one of these messages 
I will have to:

a.  Tell the sender to resend and educate them in the ways of public key 
encryption/OpenPGP and the fact that I don't use Outlook and can't receive 
and proprietary garbage it generates.

or

b. Get some software that can read the message.  This might mean installing 
Windows (ugh), or some free software.  

Either way, it's a right PITA! My original post wasn't so much to start a 
bitch about Microsoft, rather than bring this up on the list and find out 
what the hell is going on.  

Not being able to print/forward these emails would make it a difficult task 
for quite a few people who keep hardcopy archives of important documents, or 
delegate work to other people.  Imagine if I sent a message to the manager of 
company X complaining that Program Z does something wrong and I need it 
fixed.  The manager's best is to simply forward the email to the service 
group and let them look into it.  If the manager can't simply forward or 
print the mail then they have increased workload to transcribe it and pass 
the message on, with the possibility that they will introduce errors by doing 
that.

There is nothing we can do about the problem, except try to slowly educate the 
masses.

Adam

- -- 
Adam Hawes
Ph.D Student
School of Engineering
Flinders University

ICQ:    2492016
Email:  adam.hawes@flinders.edu.au
Mobile: 0402 854 965

http://users.esc.net.au/~ahawes/bcc.html
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