[WikiEN-l] Editing with open proxies

[Chris Howie]

zetawoof wrote:
> Most open web proxies don't support https. TOR does, but that still
> doesn't obviate the risk that the server could be spoofed by an exit node.
> The Wikimedia secure server is using a CACert key; on most web browsers,
> this generates a warning which is indistinguishable from the warning
> generated by an endpoint that's performing a man-in-the-middle attack.

That's a pretty well-disguised insult there.  (I'm assuming you did not mean it
as such.)

If someone knows how to use Tor, I would think they at least have a clue how to
verify a certificate.  The warning is only indistinguishable if you either
ignore it or are incredibly dense.  Your argument defeats itself.

> To be sure, this is a problem that could theoretically be solved (by
> getting a proper certificate for the secure server). However, it remains
> the case that editing Wikipedia through an untrusted connection is unsafe,
> especially for an admin.

This demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how asymmetric cryptography
works.

-- 
Chris Howie
http://www.chrishowie.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Crazycomputers

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