[Freedombox-discuss] Tap-to-share PGP key exchange

[Jonas Smedegaard]

On 11-10-04 at 10:46pm, John Gilmore wrote:
> > One thought: what about a point-to-point wired connection?  That's 
> > pretty easy for humans to physically inspect/verify, and wouldn't 
> > need the additional optical verification check.
> > 
> > Is there such a standard connection for common handheld 
> > computers/smartphones?
> 
> It's called Ethernet.
> 
> Works great for netbooks on up (except for a few Apple models that are 
> too snooty to have it).  Some handhelds (e.g. Zaurus with PCMCIA 
> adapter) and some modern tablets offer Ethernet interfaces.  I don't 
> know of any cellphones or smartphones with Ethernet.
> 
> Hmm, the one wired "standard" that exists on most smartphones is the 
> earphone/microphone jack.  It might be possible to use that for data 
> transfer with unique software and unique cables.  The "squareup.com" 
> credit card reader uses that jack for data transfer, too, so there is 
> a precedent.

For the earphone/microphone approach, there is minimodem - packaged for 
Debian so available to desktops.  I imagine it would be possible to port 
it to smartphones (or write something similar), and even some of the 
dumber featurephones support playback and recording of short audio 
files, that can then be encoded/decoded at home at the FreedomBox.


> (I think the camera/screen/QRcode approach is probably best. Bluetooth 
> has never been better than a pain for me, and its security is close to 
> nil - a 4 digit number at best, often set to "0000".)

I like that best too, but it is limited to those who own (and trust!) 
such compatible camera+screen device.

So please consider putting on the wishlist for that QRcode app to 
support emitting and receiving same data as audio - potentially at some 
places giving new life to the Walkman! :-)


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

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