Subj : Re: SSH on BBSes
To   : boraxman
From : Spectre
Date : Mon Apr 04 2022 20:55:00

 bo> I think you are missing the nuance here.  You are equating any information
 bo> which could be accessed by the public as equal, but they are not.  I could
 bo> befriend you on Facebook, and get your information, I could dig around and
 bo> get your address, I can find a lot of things about you.

Then surely that would be public information. But you won't find any, because
there's none out there on me.

 bo> What you are missing is that the subtle differences of access make a BIG
 bo> difference.  It makes a big difference for automated systems, web
 bo> crawlers, AI, etc.  It makes a big difference if a web search indexes it
 bo> or not.  I get that someone, if they knew I posted here, could create an
 bo> account and extract the data, but Google will not do that, neither would
 bo> any other crawler which is trying to profile.

That's simply by obscurity, or the lack of perceived value in the minimal
data that is available here.  If there was perceived value it'd be mined as
relentlessly as anywhere else.

 bo> Wrong, demonstrably so.  We have encryption which allows people to ferry
 bo> data from one network node to another.  Again, to use an analogy, it is
 bo> the difference between sending a message through the post on a postcard,
 bo> or in an envelope.

Sure we have encryption, but it'll only be safe for so long.. for arguments
sake WPA2 is already compromised.. yet we all still use wifi.. the longer its
in use the further it will become compromised though.

The postcard analogy is bad too, you're describing wildly different types of
data. Anything posted to a BBS cannot by nature be defined as something in a
envelope.  Anyone with the will can read it, and some them will make it
available to those that don't.

 bo> The fact there are 'public' servers ferrying the data is irrelevant.  We
 bo> can choose privacy by means of encryption, where only the intended
 bo> recipients can make sense of the message.

But thats not the data you're putting out there on a BBS, faceplant or any
other public service is it? To me you appear to be confusing public carriage
encrypted or otherwise, with a public medium being the service offered.

 bo> People do this ALL the time.  People access their bank accounts over the
 bo> Internet, surely you are not suggesting this is "public" information, are
 bo> you?

Its at risk during transit encrypted or otherwise.  However it is essentially
private between the said service and the user, otherwise its value is not
there.  But to equate that with data put on a public service, thats a
completely different kettle of fish.

 bo> No excuse for those who know better to set a better example.  I don't care
 bo> for your defeatist attitude at all.

Realistic attitude perhaps?  I still find your idea naive.

Spec


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