We...we have that. If I remember right (which I don't, but work with me on this), there's a hash that gets sent with emails (or any data transfer) to prove authenticity-and a pleasant side effect of that is "Non-repudiation"; since the hash proves the integrity, the sender can't deny sending it, and the receiver can't deny sending it. That's a very slimmed down and possibly wrong explanation, but to my understanding (and unless Null or LordKaT want to come in here and call me an exceptional individual [which I am] and explain how it works [which would be appreciated], my understanding is what you get), that's how it works.
That hash isn't 100% secure, it is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks (which is exactly what it sounds like, a third party intercepts the data as it's being transferred and messes with it), and I can see wanting these autheticators improved but...holy fuck Wu, that was dumb. Not moon rocks dumb but fucking dumb.
And, because I'm on a roll and I'm putting off doing my Chrono Trigger LP for as long as possible, does he want a text message sent to prove that yes it was sent? What about automated systems that push out emails, like say, the verification emails that get sent whenever you sign up for some stupid site? Or the automated "Hey you cunt, one of the people you follow on Twitch went life" emails? Marketing emails that just get sent out to who knows how many addresses? I went to Twitch, I clicked on Kripp's stream. He has over 1 MILLION followers. Can you imagine having to say "Yes, that was sent" to every single one of those automated "Kripp's gone live" emails? Holy shit, dude! That's one streamer! He's not even the most popular! What about businesses that send dozens of emails every day? The HR director at the college I work for sent a message out to all the employees that was "hey, Payday is this day, turn in your timesheets on this day", would he have to authenticate for each one?
You know what, I lied. This is on the same level of dumb as Bob Chipman's "Fully Manhattanized New York" tweet, for the scale alone. What a lot of people don't realize is that software solutions have to be applied to thousands, if not millions of people. Scalability is an important thing in networking, but a lot of people think on a personal scale when it comes to computer problems.
TL ; DR, John Walker Flynt has negative intelligence. He is actively making people dumber. Including me.
fftopic: Isn't it neat how the politicians are still not actually doing anything? It sounds like they're doing things. They make a lot of noise about stuff so you'd think: "well, they must be doing something then."
