Paperless transactions

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

"Metspitzer" wrote in message
...

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?


---------- Hackers, Phishers and Spammers ----------

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:23:40 -0400, Metspitzer wrote:

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

Look into PGP.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:23:40 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote:

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

The mechanisms for making email secure have been available for years,
but adoption has been somewhere between slow and stalled. Gene
mentioned PGP, but both sides need to support it, and it's not likely
that your doctor's office is going to implement it anytime soon, if at
all.

In related news, reports say that email is dying a fairly quick death,
or a slow death, depending on who you believe. Usage is down sharply
and continuing to decline. Interpersonal communications have shifted
heavily toward social media, (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.), and texting.

--

Char Jackson

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:23:40 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote:

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

Just as important is a means of electronically
storing one's static biology such as blood
grouping, allergies, fingerprints, medical
insurance details, past procedures including
dental, medications, all on a swipe card -
protected by a password - so that booking a
hospital stay can be sure and faster. Even
biometrics can be so stored.

At the moment here this is not available, even if
voluntary, so that if the hospital has "upgraded
their computer" (a quaint euphemism for lost
data)and a tedious slog of form filling and
remembering is required.

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:52:23 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:23:40 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote:

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

The mechanisms for making email secure have been available for years,
but adoption has been somewhere between slow and stalled. Gene
mentioned PGP, but both sides need to support it, and it's not likely
that your doctor's office is going to implement it anytime soon, if at
all.

In related news, reports say that email is dying a fairly quick death,
or a slow death, depending on who you believe. Usage is down sharply
and continuing to decline. Interpersonal communications have shifted
heavily toward social media, (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.), and texting.

I think email is simply leveling off and good that it is. All the
meaningless childish drivel is going where it belongs. I would never
think for one second email is dying. How will I be getting my
notifications of transactions from banks and purchases made?

Stop and think how many ways people use and need email. I can't wait
until the Post Office shuts down or at least they provide a trash bin
at my mail box.

On 15/09/2012 1:41 AM, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:23:40 -0400, Metspitzer wrote:

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

Look into PGP.


You have to be rich to use PGP these days. However, GnuPG is free and
the same. It's certainly the answer, but Metspitzer uses Forte Agent,
and I don't think you can easily incorporate it into Agent - if I
remember correctly it's why I switched away from Agent many years back.
You have to use a third party program like WinPT - but that method of
incorporating the code is deprecated amongst cryptology aficionados.
However, it's no big deal to set up Thunderbird for just the e-mail and
Thunderbird/Enigmail is the best way to use GnuPG by a country mile.

--
Bob
Tetbury, Gloucestershire, UK


There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary,
and those who don't.

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:23:40 -0400, Metspitzer wrote:

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month
follow up appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working
on making email useful and secure?

Printing and handing you a paper reminder is not email. What's the
connection?

On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 09:48:28 +0100, Bob Henson
wrote:



On 15/09/2012 1:41 AM, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:23:40 -0400, Metspitzer wrote:

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

Look into PGP.


You have to be rich to use PGP these days. However, GnuPG is free and
the same. It's certainly the answer, but Metspitzer uses Forte Agent,

I use Gmail. If I worked for the CIA or something, I might be worried
about some spy intercepting my next doctor's appointment.
I don't, so I am not. Just send me an email. I will take the
security risk.

and I don't think you can easily incorporate it into Agent - if I
remember correctly it's why I switched away from Agent many years back.
You have to use a third party program like WinPT - but that method of
incorporating the code is deprecated amongst cryptology aficionados.
However, it's no big deal to set up Thunderbird for just the e-mail and
Thunderbird/Enigmail is the best way to use GnuPG by a country mile.

Per Metspitzer:
I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

"Paper-Free by '83"
--
Pete Cresswell

On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:08:38 -0400, Allen Drake
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:52:23 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:


In related news, reports say that email is dying a fairly quick death,
or a slow death, depending on who you believe. Usage is down sharply
and continuing to decline. Interpersonal communications have shifted
heavily toward social media, (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.), and texting.

I think email is simply leveling off and good that it is.


I don't know, but I sure hope that you are right and the reports that
Char quotes are not!


Stop and think how many ways people use and need email. I can't wait
until the Post Office shuts down or at least they provide a trash bin
at my mail box.


I'm with you entirely. The post office now provides a service that is
essentially unneeded. I get almost nothing in my mailbox but junk
mail, and I mail almost nothing myself.

The only real exception for me is Netflix, and they don't have to use
the post office for what they do. It could be streaming using devices
like Roku boxes.

It's a waste of money.

On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:08:38 -0400, Allen Drake
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:52:23 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:23:40 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote:

I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?

The mechanisms for making email secure have been available for years,
but adoption has been somewhere between slow and stalled. Gene
mentioned PGP, but both sides need to support it, and it's not likely
that your doctor's office is going to implement it anytime soon, if at
all.

In related news, reports say that email is dying a fairly quick death,
or a slow death, depending on who you believe. Usage is down sharply
and continuing to decline. Interpersonal communications have shifted
heavily toward social media, (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.), and texting.

I think email is simply leveling off and good that it is.

I meant email usage in general, not just your personal use of it.

All the
meaningless childish drivel is going where it belongs. I would never
think for one second email is dying.

First, dying does not mean dead. At your age, email will likely
outlast you and therefore you have nothing to worry about.

How will I be getting my
notifications of transactions from banks and purchases made?

Seriously? Have you forgotten the past 100 years? Two things to keep
in mind are that when one technology fades away, it usually gets
replaced by another technology that's better in some ways, and second,
in the worst case you might have to have someone check your mailbox
now and then to bring you your mail.

Stop and think how many ways people use and need email. I can't wait
until the Post Office shuts down or at least they provide a trash bin
at my mail box.

Millions of people would say the exact same thing about postal mail
that you just said about email.

--

Char Jackson

On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 07:35:41 -0700, Ken Blake
wrote:

On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:08:38 -0400, Allen Drake
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:52:23 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:


In related news, reports say that email is dying a fairly quick death,
or a slow death, depending on who you believe. Usage is down sharply
and continuing to decline. Interpersonal communications have shifted
heavily toward social media, (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.), and texting.

I think email is simply leveling off and good that it is.


I don't know, but I sure hope that you are right and the reports that
Char quotes are not!

There's no vast conspiracy to take email away. It's just that many
people are no longer using it, or are using it much less than they
used to, so in the aggregate the overall volume of email traffic is
down sharply, and is expected to continue that downward trend.

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/Web-based_Email_Shows_Signs_of_Decline_in_the_U.S._Whi le_Mobile_Email_Usage_on_the_Rise
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2025027/email-usage-plummets-teens-mobile-social-networking
http://allfacebook.com/email-use-declines-59-among-teens-can-messages-surge_b31816
etc.
I've seen better sites than those, but those were the first hits that
came up just now so I used them as examples.

On a personal note, if I send information to my son via email, he'll
eventually see it but it can take several months. OTOH, if I send a
message via Facebook, he usually replies immediately. His age group,
early twenties, is plugged into Facebook almost exclusively. Email is
seen as passe, old school, not cool, or whatever you want to call it.

Stop and think how many ways people use and need email. I can't wait
until the Post Office shuts down or at least they provide a trash bin
at my mail box.

I'm with you entirely. The post office now provides a service that is
essentially unneeded. I get almost nothing in my mailbox but junk
mail, and I mail almost nothing myself.

The only real exception for me is Netflix, and they don't have to use
the post office for what they do. It could be streaming using devices
like Roku boxes.

It's a waste of money.

Millions of people rely on postal mail and have no real alternative.
Take it away and they're stranded with nothing.

--

Char Jackson

On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 10:41:02 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:

On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 07:35:41 -0700, Ken Blake
wrote:

On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:08:38 -0400, Allen Drake
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:52:23 -0500, Char Jackson
wrote:


In related news, reports say that email is dying a fairly quick death,
or a slow death, depending on who you believe. Usage is down sharply
and continuing to decline. Interpersonal communications have shifted
heavily toward social media, (Facebook, Pinterest, etc.), and texting.

I think email is simply leveling off and good that it is.


I don't know, but I sure hope that you are right and the reports that
Char quotes are not!

There's no vast conspiracy to take email away.


Of course not. I didn't mean to suggest that you said that.


It's just that many
people are no longer using it, or are using it much less than they
used to, so in the aggregate the overall volume of email traffic is
down sharply, and is expected to continue that downward trend.


Yes, but if it dwindles sufficiently, it will die. Just as Usenet is
dying.


On a personal note, if I send information to my son via email, he'll
eventually see it but it can take several months. OTOH, if I send a
message via Facebook, he usually replies immediately. His age group,
early twenties, is plugged into Facebook almost exclusively. Email is
seen as passe, old school, not cool, or whatever you want to call it.


Passé, old school, not cool--you can call me all those things. g


Stop and think how many ways people use and need email. I can't wait
until the Post Office shuts down or at least they provide a trash bin
at my mail box.

I'm with you entirely. The post office now provides a service that is
essentially unneeded. I get almost nothing in my mailbox but junk
mail, and I mail almost nothing myself.

The only real exception for me is Netflix, and they don't have to use
the post office for what they do. It could be streaming using devices
like Roku boxes.

It's a waste of money.

Millions of people rely on postal mail and have no real alternative.
Take it away and they're stranded with nothing.


There are fewer and fewer and fewer all the time. A couple of years
ago, I knew lots of people who didn't have an e-mail address. Today, I
don't know anyone.

And for the few that don't have it, spend the money now spent on post
offices, salaries, etc. by giving them inexpensive devices that can
get e-mail.

Metspitzer wrote:
I went to the doctor today. The secretary made me a 6 month follow up
appointment and printed me a reminder.

I do know that email is not considered secure. Is anyone working on
making email useful and secure?


There are probably tens of thousands of people working
on those fixes and there are tens of thousands trying
to un-work those fixes.

Most comments here are for home users.
However, businesses rely on email.
There is no viable or cost effective alternative.
If the company I work for had to do everything via phone
like in the old days, the cost of every material object
that you buy would go up. Probably 10-15%, at least.