Dennis Kibbe wrote:
 > ... under the title "The Web's 20 Worst Security Flaws" from
 > the SANS Institute.
 >
 >"Protection from malicious code, embedded in text of e-mail"
 >and
 >"Protection from Web Beaconing"

Those are major reasons (among many) why I won't allow
Outlook to run in my home, and rarely read messages from
unscreened sources.  I and my family have gotten mountains of
email over the past 10+ years and we have not been bit.
And as for web beacons, Mozilla has a most excellent feature :
"Do not load remote images in Mail... messages".  This is at:
   Edit > Preferences > Privacy & Security > Images.

Neither of the above risks, involving unscrupulous senders,
is relevant to the intelligent use of Mozilla's HTML compose
feature to send meaningful formatting in rare cases when it can
be useful.

I  have been doing messaging and documentation in plain-text
mode for 35+ years, but I'm not too old to use a new tool; and
HTML does in fact save some of my precious time now and then.
Formatting can convey information more rapidly than words in
certain cases.  The fact that I've never inflicted any on *you* should
tell you something, right?

I prefer plain text because I happen to be comfortable communicating
in words, but I see no point in a dogmatic pronouncement that HTML
is "not necessary" after I have made productive use of it in my
professional life.  I have a libertarian streak, and tend to bristle at
the ban-everything-that-can-be-abused or save-us-from-ourselves
mentality that produces restrictions instead of well designed options,
available on an exception basis.

I just think Mozilla should make HTML easier to turn on as an exception
*after* I have turned it off by default.  That's not an endorsement of
HTML, but rather seeking to make it more *practical* to use a good
default.  But I guess one stirs the hornet's nest by merely mentioning
HTML in certain circles, even with all sorts of disclaimers.

By the way, I looked on the Mozilla.org web site before opening
this discussion.  I did not find the mailing list where I should post
suggestions, even though I found a similar list for Firefox before.
Any pointer would be gratefully received ...

Vic


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