laurentMiguel

You can downvote all you want, but you're simply matadoring behavioral issues as if they are technical hurtles, and that's dishonest.

Yeah, there's no accounting for glaring cluelessness. Leaving S3 buckets open to the world, and totally unencrypted, for example. Downloading and running *.exe email attachments, destroying systems with ransomware, and so on.

Encryption can be its own foot gun. It can aid attackers, by totally destroying evidence that might exonerate you from being framed for other crimes. It can cost people dearly, in terms of lost data. Consider how many people have lost old bitcoin wallets, containing small fortunes, and similar tails of woe.

But look at how that plays out. A dropped bitcoin wallet, gone forever. The failure mode of something like that is often a better look than things going the other way. Imagine that same bitcoin wallet getting stolen, and seeing the thief profit from it. Sort of like watching elections get stolen, no?

So, think about that, the next time you warn someone against forcing you to exchange PGP keys, in order to communicate more securely.

I think that's because email, fundamentally just isn't very secure.

Lots of email servers support fallback to non-encrypted, plaintext transmission, which can expose entire chains of replies to MITM attacks with a single message being routed questionably. [0,1,2] End-to-end encryption, via user-defined keys is actively discouraged by those who might assuredly know better, and be in a position to change minds. Usually, the cop out comes in the form of "too complicated for non-technical/less-technical users, and thus potentially harmful to profits."

As if to say, we've been espousing the use of an insecure method of communication for decades, so, to suddenly reverse our position, and encourage bring-your-own-encryption might provoke discussions of liability, or something. Nevermind, the premise of ad tech and scanning user messages, to sell data.

But you know, running your own server, and hiring people who can't be bothered to go deeper than using word art in MS PowerPoint slides, well, hey. Bring a horse to water... know what I'm saying?

PGP is easy to use. At this point, I'd like to think people are fatigued enough by the bottomless pit of nightmares we've fallen into, that they'd step up and tell people: yes, people are using SSH keys and SSL keys billions of times a day. It's okay to use PGP on your email. Go ahead, start doing it.

Or, you know, whatever. Lose another election. Right?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_encryption

[1] https://blog.filippo.io/the-sad-state-of-smtp-encryption/

[2] https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/51552/how-insec...

  Is there a particular use case that the 
  physical buttons are better for?

EVERYTHING.

Every time I need to create a new folder. Every time I need to copy and paste. Every time I need to see additional information about a file. Every time I need to inspect an element on a web page. Every time I need to move something off my desktop. Every time I want to open in a new window.

Every time I want to do ANYTHING involving a right-click for a context menu WHICH IS ALLLLLLLLLL THE TIMMMMMMMMME.

Tap-to-click, and two-finger context click, are both unacceptable. They result in accidental clicks, and accidental context menus on scroll. Adding any gestures to most track pads results in accidental gestures, and chained combinations of unintended actions. I turn them off.

  I'll point out that some Lenovo laptops 
  (typically the big ones) still have 
  physical left and right buttons for 
  the trackpad.

Yes, I am well aware, and I absolutely love them for it.

I'm still consistently enraged at trackpads without physically distinct left and right buttons.

No one does them right. Not even Apple.

That is an honor system. Hope. Promises, promises.

Are metal/chemical batteries “clean” though?

In the atmospheric climate context, possibly. But if we optimize only for that, is there not a potentially serious trade off in the likelihood of irresponsible disposal?

Honestly, the interview process is no guarantee of anything behind door number one. I've learned that the hard way.

If a company is putting their best foot forward, and they've contrived an act, but can't back it up? What then?

There's no accounting for willful deception, and sometimes you are straight lied to.