Re: LYNX-DEV more about wells fargo, schwab

[David Woolley]

> Sort of like what I have heard third-hand about something involved with
> Windows (possibly Windows95?)..  If you mess up the password 3 times in a row,
> it lets you CHANGE the password?  That is *WORSE* than no security, since it
> implies there is security but there really is none.  (Note, I'm not bashing

I'm no fan of Microsoft, but this is unfair.  Locks are sometimes used to
detect a breakin rather than prevent one.  That's certainly true where
sensitive information is concerned.  The logic in this case is that an
unauthorised access will be detectable, whilst at the same time avoiding
support calls from people who have locked themselves out.

The policy of defaulting NT to unprotected would be a much better example,
as would be some of the (reputedly) trivially breakable encryption schemes
used in major commercial products in the past, or the database packages that
provide access control but require the underlying files to be world
readable or even world writeable (not quite a database, but pre-exchange
versions of MS-Mail are like this).