Re: A couple of questions and concerns about Emacs network security

[Paul Eggert]

On 06/22/2018 03:00 PM, Jimmy Yuen Ho Wong wrote:
> 1. Can we update the default network security settings?

Yes, I would think so, in the master branch. As you say, the current 
defaults are inappropriate for today's users.

> 2. Now that `starttls.el` and `tls.el` are obsolete, and GnuTLS doesn't
>     seem to be doing a very good job, can we link to something better
>     maintained, such as OpenSSL/LibreSSL/BoringSSL/NSS?

I would think the answer to that could be "yes" too. Despite its name, 
GnuTLS is no longer GNU code, and we're under no obligation to promote 
it. However, this would take some work. We'd surely want the option to 
link to either GnuTLS or OpenSSL/etc.

> there's this thing call `nsm.el` seemingly
> doing redundant checks if your TLS settings are reasonable, what's the
> history of it and why is it not obsolete when `tls.el` and `starttls.el`
> are?

Lars is the person to ask about that. I'll CC: him.