Re: Image mode

[Richard Stallman]

    Sorry, but that is nonsense.  We have added a lot of stuff warning
    about file variables and unsafe variables and so on, exactly to free
    the user from having to worry about the trustworthiness of files
    before opening them.

That is a different kind of issue.  No bug in Emacs is needed for a
file to cause trouble if it can set a variable whose value is a
function to be executed.  The features we have installed to check file
local variables are the only line of defense against that.

The image issue is different because the image library is a line of
defense against viruses in images.

      And are you telling me that all the junk mails
    that want me to click on something have a sender I know?

I don't think that is what he said.

    The user has an idea about what Emacs will do with a file, and will
    judge based on that whether he wants it to open in Emacs in this
    manner.

The beginning user sees .jpg and thinks "this is an image; Emacs will
display it."  If displaying that image will cause some sort of harm,
he doesn't know any better.

    If Emacs does something different than the expected thing,
    there goes one component of security: user wariness.

Most users are not wary of images.