From: rishab@dxm.org (Rishab Aiyer Ghosh)
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 00:58:35 +0800
To: attila@hun.org
Subject: free market (was RE: GET OFF THE DIME: PGP 5.5)
Message-ID: <199710131653.JAA11142@shell5.ba.best.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain




Attila wrote:
       would you rather have PGP, Inc. with its preeminent 
        stature in the defense of freedom, freeware, and
        privacy as well as an established, TRUSTED product 
        defining THE system which meets the need of the 
[etc]


if i remember right, the idea behind PGP when it first
came out was that you ought not trust ANYBODY.
that's why you have the source code@!

it's a free market. if PGP Inc wants to make money,
and needs to meet the corporate demand for some sort of 
alternative-key mechanism to snoop on their employees
(or keep backups of important correspondence when 
employees forget their keys) so be it. as an individual,
it hardly matters to me if it's PGP or Microsoft that's
selling this stuff - remember, crypto software doesn't
read your mail, people do, and if my company wants to 
be able to read my mail it'll buy the tools from anyone
who's selling. frankly i couldn't be bothered if the tools
are from "TRUSTED" PGP or Evil Bill. for all i know, 
my employer is quite happy with GAK too.

of course if i'm willing and able to work independently
of any company, then i _do_ have control over the privacy
software i use, and in that case, if i'm paranoid enough,
i can always go through the source code.

-rishab