Re: Should Emacs provide a uuid function?

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Ken Raeburn writes:
 > On Apr 25, 2011, at 04:45, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
 > >> Though, at least one version I ran across generates (by default?) 
 > >> the information-revealing "version 1" format that encodes the
 > >> machine's MAC address, and while some versions have options to
 > >> control which form is generated, not all do.
 > > 
 > > Application where you'd care, please.
 > 
 > I don't know; I'm not familiar with many uses of UUIDs, either.
 > I'd expect some messaging protocols might be able to use such a
 > thing, but an argument has been made against email/news message-ids
 > using them.

Well, I've recently seen them used in MSDN archive URLs :-) and I
believe Apple plists use them to tag nodes.

 > > If any of the data for the applications mentioned by Leo leaked
 > > enough that somebody got hold of one of the UUIDs, I'd be worried
 > > about everything *except* my MAC address.
 > 
 > Are calendar or org files not suitable for being made public?
 > (That's a serious question; I don't use either one.)  Should they
 > include information that helps track what computers I use?

Uh, if I were young, slim, and sexy I really wouldn't want my stalkers
to know when I plan to walk alone in Central Park, or when I'm going
anywhere for that matter.  And I would certainly give that concern
priority over them knowing whether I made a particular appointment via
my iPhone or Barrack Obama's PC.  Oops, you're not supposed to know I
have access to that, I guess it would be scary if that leaked.  Yeah,
right.

No, they shouldn't include that information if it can easily be
avoided.  But get real.  When Emacs net apps all route via TOR only by
default, then I'll concede you have a point.