[OTR-dev] Clever logging for weechat_otr plugin (+ log management discussion)

Michael Rogers michael at briarproject.org
Thu Mar 14 09:54:24 EDT 2013


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On 13/03/13 12:05, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> All of this has the consequence that when you make authentication
> or anti-logging more invasive you produce a small benefit for the
> tiny number of users who meet _all_ of these criteria:
> 
> * will always use OTR, even it gets in their way * won't get auth
> or logging right without the change * are exposed to the kind of
> risks the change addresses (active attackers / log capture) * those
> risks don't moot the protection (log grabber also installs key 
> logger, active attacker intercepts webpages and gives them
> trojans)
> 
> With the risk of discouraging the use of security technology for 
> _everyone_ (including those people).

Your unstated asssumptions are that if logging is disabled by default,
(a) users will be surprised, (b) users will be annoyed, and (c)
existing OTR users will stop using OTR rather than enabling logging.

I think all three assumptions are false. Anyone who chooses OTR does
so because they want to have a confidential and/or deniable
conversation. Anyone can understand how keeping logs could undermine
those properties. So there's no reason for users to be surprised or
annoyed that OTR conversations aren't logged (I'm suprised and annoyed
that they are!).

If an existing OTR user wants to log an OTR conversation, despite
knowing that they're undermining the benefits of OTR by doing so, they
can enable logging on a per-conversation basis. The only people for
whom it's safe to log by default are those who encrypt their logs.
Since OTR can't determine whether you're one of those people, it
shouldn't assume that you are.

Cheers,
Michael

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