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by hyustan 2171 days ago
This is trying to show the GNU project in a bad light.

The GNS which most of the article focuses on has nothing to do with the GNU project. Because pgp is from the 90's, gpg is an easy target mostly . The only other halfway good data point in the line they're trying to draw is gnutls, which is surely got its holes, but also wasn't afflicted with openssl's heartbleed

3 comments

> The GNS which most of the article focuses on has nothing to do with the GNU project.

Doesn't it stand for GNU Name System?

Tech is particularly famous for having similar names for very different things.

The authors of the GNS IETF draft appear to be associated with GNUnet[0], which is an official GNU project. However, in defense of the OP, there may be a level of indirection here - there's no clear link between the GNU leadership and GNS: just GNU - GNUnet - GNS. It could be a purely GNUnet initiative.

[0]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNUnet

It is a project under the GNU umbrella. That said, that's a loose association (i.e. it's not like GNU projects necessarily share developers, project leadership or even much in the way of infrastructure), so it does seem needlessly click-baity. (Next up: "GitHub: A Heuristic for Bad Cryptography"? - although GNU projects probably have a bit more cultural overlap)
Yep https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-schanzen-gns-01.html

"This document contains the GNU Name System (GNS) technical specification"

> If you see the letters GNU in a systems design, and that system intersects with cryptography, I can almost guarantee that it will be badly designed to an alarming degree.

The author does indeed talk about seeing the letters Gnu, not being an official part of the GNU Project.

Plus if the GNU Project never enforces its brand, that its problem (it will be associated with the potential successes of independant projects reusing the GNU brand, but then it also has to accept association with the failures)

> Because pgp is from the 90's, gpg is an easy target mostly

That would be a good argument if it was retired in the 90's.