IETF Logo Mail Archive

Re: not really pgp signing in van

Ted Lemon <Ted.Lemon@nominum.com> Tue, 10 September 2013 01:13 UTC

Return-Path: <Ted.Lemon@nominum.com>
X-Original-To: ietf@ietfa.amsl.com
Delivered-To: ietf@ietfa.amsl.com
Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 05AE121E8174 for <ietf@ietfa.amsl.com>; Mon, 9 Sep 2013 18:13:26 -0700 (PDT)
X-Virus-Scanned: amavisd-new at amsl.com
X-Spam-Flag: NO
X-Spam-Score: -106.469
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-106.469 tagged_above=-999 required=5 tests=[AWL=0.130, BAYES_00=-2.599, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_MED=-4, USER_IN_WHITELIST=-100]
Received: from mail.ietf.org ([12.22.58.30]) by localhost (ietfa.amsl.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id lp5QHahhLfpO for <ietf@ietfa.amsl.com>; Mon, 9 Sep 2013 18:13:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from exprod7og126.obsmtp.com (exprod7og126.obsmtp.com [64.18.2.206]) by ietfa.amsl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2860A21E8063 for <ietf@ietf.org>; Mon, 9 Sep 2013 18:13:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from shell-too.nominum.com ([64.89.228.229]) (using TLSv1) by exprod7ob126.postini.com ([64.18.6.12]) with SMTP ID DSNKUi5yLlhqxesxU15v0wJMr9pBAoUIKxX7@postini.com; Mon, 09 Sep 2013 18:13:19 PDT
Received: from archivist.nominum.com (archivist.nominum.com [64.89.228.108]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "*.nominum.com", Issuer "Go Daddy Secure Certification Authority" (verified OK)) by shell-too.nominum.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9EEEC1B8251 for <ietf@ietf.org>; Mon, 9 Sep 2013 18:13:18 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from webmail.nominum.com (cas-01.win.nominum.com [64.89.228.131]) (using TLSv1 with cipher RC4-SHA (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "mail.nominum.com", Issuer "Go Daddy Secure Certification Authority" (verified OK)) by archivist.nominum.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 52D9819006D; Mon, 9 Sep 2013 18:13:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from Ted.Lemon@nominum.com)
Received: from MBX-01.WIN.NOMINUM.COM ([64.89.228.133]) by CAS-01.WIN.NOMINUM.COM ([64.89.228.131]) with mapi id 14.02.0318.004; Mon, 9 Sep 2013 18:13:10 -0700
From: Ted Lemon <Ted.Lemon@nominum.com>
To: John Levine <johnl@taugh.com>
Subject: Re: not really pgp signing in van
Thread-Topic: not really pgp signing in van
Thread-Index: AQHOqpqEB3VH/4NMm0OmqkHjUm9ALJm5aiMAgABaqYD//9WJAIAARlSA///KM4CAAFZ3gIAC1QGAgAAEoYCAAPmWgIAAFPEAgABoNQCAAAGxAIAAFfqAgAAJL4CAADHKgIAAAaIA
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 01:13:10 +0000
Message-ID: <8D23D4052ABE7A4490E77B1A012B63077527E234@mbx-01.win.nominum.com>
References: <20130910010719.33978.qmail@joyce.lan>
In-Reply-To: <20130910010719.33978.qmail@joyce.lan>
Accept-Language: en-US
Content-Language: en-US
X-MS-Has-Attach:
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator:
x-originating-ip: [192.168.1.10]
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-ID: <8BC9314F910B664D82CF9F58750B882F@nominum.com>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
MIME-Version: 1.0
Cc: "<scott@kitterman.com>" <scott@kitterman.com>, "<ietf@ietf.org>" <ietf@ietf.org>
X-BeenThere: ietf@ietf.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.12
Precedence: list
List-Id: IETF-Discussion <ietf.ietf.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/options/ietf>, <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf>
List-Post: <mailto:ietf@ietf.org>
List-Help: <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf>, <mailto:ietf-request@ietf.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 01:13:26 -0000

On Sep 9, 2013, at 9:07 PM, John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> wrote:
> Yes, and no.  PGP and S/MIME each have their own key distribution
> problems.  With PGP, it's easy to invent a key, and hard to get other
> people's software to trust it.  With S/MIME it's harder to get a key,
> but once you have one, the software is all happy.

That's a bug, not a feature.   The PGP key is almost certainly more trustworthy than the S/MIME key.

> The MUAs I use (Thunderbird, Alpine, Evolution) support S/MIME a lot
> better than they support PGP.  There's typically a one key command or
> a button to turn signing and encryption on and off, and they all
> automagically import the certs from on incoming mail.

Yup.   That's also a bug, not a feature.   I was just wondering why that is.   The only implementation I've seen a reference to is Sylpheed, which is not widely used.

v2.23.0 | Report a Bug | By Email