null wrote:

> atapen@softhome.net wrote:
>
> > I agree, it's protection against your kid sister only - security
> > through obscurity, and we all know what that means! (Yuck!)
>
> Here we go... Can you name some type of security that ISN'T making use
> of obscurity? The lock to your car and house require an
> obscurely-patterned key to fit. Every one of your passwords works
> because it is obscure. And on and on... And your anonymous remailer
> adds privacy and security by using obscurity.

None of those things use obscurity in any significant way to provide
security. Even your car key relies on provable mathematical formula and
the probability that a thief can't try all possible keys in any
practical span of time. Passwords and encryption (remailers) rely on
hard mathematics even more so than your auto's locks, and are
consequently even harder to "crack". Assuming passwords of sufficient
strength of course, which is a contradiction to passwords that are
merely obscure.