Patrick Schleizer:
> intrigeri wrote:
>>> I can't think of another area in which asking a hostile for advice is a
>>> good idea. Maybe "if friend and foe both agree, you can be confident
>>> that they're right; if they disagree, look further" - but that's not
>>> what Tails htpdate is doing.
>>
>> Indeed, it should probably discard information that is diverging too
>> much from what others tell us. Care to file a "research" ticket
>> about it?
>
> https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/8283
> Issue #8283 has been updated by intrigeri.
>
>
> Is the reasoning behind Whonix design decision on this topic summed up
anywhere?
No.
To make it quick to save time, let's see if the following of the top of
my head sounds already convincing enough...
- The burden of proof is on you. The claim here is "asking foes for
something is better than just asking pals".
-- The absence of an argument in favor of that. Nothing in the design
documentation or mailing list discussion explained, why it makes sense
ask someone you think to be a foe [by putting them into a pool called
foe] for anything.
- Try a real life analogy. Would you walk around and ask someone likely
to work against you "what time is it please?" I think not. You probably
try to avoid these and ask people you consider 'pal'.
- The marketing argument. Try to explain why you must connect to nsa.gov
[made up foe example]. In the absence of a good explanation why this is
useful, I would avoid it.
Therefore if you have the option of only asking pals, why involve foes?
The only case I could think of to ask foes would be if there are too few
pals. But I don't think this is the case.
Cheers,
Patrick
