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Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

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Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#51

Post by X86BSD »

a3_nm wrote: post #19
jasonkester wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not overly so. After having an article written about him, one guy got the better part of one year's salary in charity. In exchange for 18 years of work maintaining a piece of software that kinda everybody uses. Another reminder that selling goods and services in exchange for money still works better than giving things away and hoping somebody gives you a donation.

> selling goods and services in exchange for money still works better than giving things away and hoping somebody gives you a donation The problem is, had he tried to sell GPG, I doubt many people would be using it now...

Well to be honest few people ARE using it now. PK crypto has failed since its inception. It's never been widely adopted. PK has been too hard to implement and manage.

In contrast to say openssh which everyone uses.

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#52

Post by thomasjudge »

thomasjudge wrote: post #48

Isn't the obvious answer here that he creates a company that offers "professional level" support contracts, ala Red Hat, Sendmail, ...

or a bigger picture company, like "The Internet Security Company" that funds him, openssh, ...

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#53

Post by DonHopkins »

stephenr wrote: post #33
firebird84 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A while back you could get a globally trusted free cert from Comodo. I'm not certain they're still doing it but you could see if the free route will work. (The keying material is generated inside the browser and never leaves your machine)

You still can but they're a bit of a pain to use, and honestly anything that's not Comodo would be nice. After their shitbird response to LetsEncrypt, I'd rather pay someone else than use their "free" option. Edit: for those who didn't follow it at the time, this sums it up: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/800-pound-comodo...

Wow, I missed that story the first time around. Just catching up on the details. That Comodo CEO Melih Abdulhayoğlu is such a dishonest, incompetent buffoon! I had no idea how terrible a company Comodo is, but now I do thanks to the CEO's own words and actions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Wl2FW2TcA&feature=youtu.be...

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#54

Post by TremendousJudge »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #26
Digit-Al wrote: post #21

It seems like so much of the internet is reliant upon technology created by, and supported by, people who get little to no reward or recognition for their important contributions. An idea (not a serious one, but a point for discussion): in civil society we have a government that collects taxes that are used to fund the vital infrastructure that allows the society to function. How about if all ISPs were to charge a ve…

Sounds like the cassette and compact disk taxes that were implemented in some countries. Did they ever support the performers who really needed the money?

Not exactly the same. A more accurate analogy would be if the CD was invented by some volunteers instead of Sony, and everyone used them but the volunteers never got paid for their contribution

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#55

Post by TremendousJudge »

thomasjudge wrote: post #48

Isn't the obvious answer here that he creates a company that offers "professional level" support contracts, ala Red Hat, Sendmail, ...

What if he doesn't want to run a company? He isn't a consultant, he's a programmer. Being good at programming doesn't make automatically good at running a company, which requires a totally different skillset

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#56

Post by na85 »

ianai wrote: post #25
thanksgiving wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How about if all ISPs were to charge a very small levy to customers? At least in the US, we know we can't trust the ISPs to "do the right thing". Maybe things are different elsewhere but I cannot support this idea in the US. Sorry.

it seems too much to both not support a thing directly and also decry potential support as unfit.

The ISPs would not support it. They would take the levy and find some clever loophole to steal it or to use it to reinforce their own walled gardens.

You're talking about possibly the scummiest, least moral companies in the global tech industry.

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#57

Post by keeler »

Digit-Al wrote: post #21

It seems like so much of the internet is reliant upon technology created by, and supported by, people who get little to no reward or recognition for their important contributions. An idea (not a serious one, but a point for discussion): in civil society we have a government that collects taxes that are used to fund the vital infrastructure that allows the society to function. How about if all ISPs were to charge a ve…

> How about if all ISPs were to charge a very small levy to customers?

How about levying such a tax on ISPs themselves? They're the ones making a profit off of the infrastructure you're talking about.

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#58

Post by stephenr »

DonHopkins wrote: post #53
stephenr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still can but they're a bit of a pain to use, and honestly anything that's not Comodo would be nice. After their shitbird response to LetsEncrypt, I'd rather pay someone else than use their "free" option. Edit: for those who didn't follow it at the time, this sums it up: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/800-pound-comodo...

Wow, I missed that story the first time around. Just catching up on the details. That Comodo CEO Melih Abdulhayoğlu is such a dishonest, incompetent buffoon! I had no idea how terrible a company Comodo is, but now I do thanks to the CEO's own words and actions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Wl2FW2TcA&feature=youtu.be...

Thanks for posting that video, I hadn't seen that before.

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#59

Post by gilrain »

Whollycow wrote: post #40
gilrain wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also useful to learn not to spout off when you "have no clue".

Yes but until one doesn't know one hasn't a clue then what does one do? Apart from 'spout off'?

Listen to those who have a clue. One can assume one doesn't have a clue about things one isn't a specialist in, so it isn't a big mystery. Unless one assumes one is smarter than everyone around them, even on topics they haven't bothered to study.

/sort of fed up with tech today, sorry

Re: Gnu Privacy Guard relies on one underfunded person (2015)

#60

Post by geofft »

X86BSD wrote: post #51
a3_nm wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> selling goods and services in exchange for money still works better than giving things away and hoping somebody gives you a donation The problem is, had he tried to sell GPG, I doubt many people would be using it now...

Well to be honest few people ARE using it now. PK crypto has failed since its inception. It's never been widely adopted. PK has been too hard to implement and manage. In contrast to say openssh which everyone uses.

What do you mean by "PK crypto"? (OpenSSH makes extensive use of "public-key cryptography", as does, say, HTTPS, and both seem to be massive successes, so I think I am understanding you incorrectly.)
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