From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@imsi.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Jan 95 16:39:36 PST
To: Michael Sattler <msattler@jungle.com>
Subject: Re: Encrypted Magazine Subscriptions Via E-Mail?
In-Reply-To: <v0300110cab508e0f1717@[140.174.229.179]>
Message-ID: <9501290039.AA21391@snark.imsi.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Michael Sattler says:
> >I posed this question in alt.wired. Am I missing something obvious as to
> >why Wired (or magazines in general) don't do this to make subscribing
> >easier?
> 
> Because if you saw the low-tech state of the Wired office you'd understand;
> they're at capacity just opening envelopes and manually entering names and
> addresses off the checques.  Visit them whenever you're in downtown San
> Francisco.

Yup, too busy to automate. After all, if they took orders by email,
they wouldn't need manual intervention. It all makes perfect
sense. Why spend effort to lower the amount of time their staff need
to spend on manual tasks? Makes more sense just to remain buried.

I called and asked the Wired folks why they weren't using PGP. They
said they thought it couldn't be used for commercial purposes. I gave
them phone number for ViaCrypt. They never did anything with it so far
as I can tell.


Perry