[OS X TeX] Compatibility of Lion and Snow Leopard file structures ?

[Chris Lott]

On Tue, Jan 31, 2012 at 2:11 PM, Christopher Menzel <cmenzel at tamu.edu> wrote:
>> In order for Dropbox to make your files available through the web interface the encryption key *must* be stored by dropbox.
>
> Well, yeah, sure; I suppose it brings come comfort about the Dropbox folks
> to know that they store your keys out of inescapable architectural necessity,
> but it doesn't really add to the point.

What does add to the point, from my perspective, is that I've lost
and/or had inaccessible data on three different occasions with
SugarSync, which is 100% of the time that I've tried using their
service on more than two computers. Dropbox has just been "set it and
forget it" across a half-dozen or more computers + portable devices.
Less secure? Sure, but it's mostly theoretical and a negligible risk
I'm willing to take--just as I drive to work every day despite the
inherent risks of that activity--for the convenience, performance, and
stability.

Security is always a spectrum. For most, the issue with deduplication
as implemented by Dropbox isn't particularly relevant and is part of
the price one pays for the convenience and "it just works" nature of
the system.  If one is a member of the exceedingly small set where
that really is a problem, then they clearly would want an alternate
system. Of course, most of those folks don't need our advice on the
matter either.

I appreciate that there is a security issue to consider with Dropbox,
but it feels like FUD when people say that Dropbox is insecure and
leave it at that or make the argument that another system is more
secure (because, let's face it, no system is totally secure) without
fairly noting that there are many other factors to consider.

c
--
Chris Lott <chris at chrislott.org>