The moment you open the door for federation, the protocol is written in stone forever. All it takes is one server in the federation network with a substantial user base that chooses not to update. (See SMTP).
OWS decided that relinquishing the ability to force updates (i.e. away from a broken cryptosystem) would sacrifice too much in the way of security to be consistent with the project's goals.
I understand that. I don't think it's a malicious decision. I think it's a wrong one. I'm not criticizing Whisper Systems, I'm criticizing the tech-priesty stuff out of the post I replied to.
The moment you open the door for federation, the protocol is written in stone forever. All it takes is one server in the federation network with a substantial user base that chooses not to update. (See SMTP).
OWS decided that relinquishing the ability to force updates (i.e. away from a broken cryptosystem) would sacrifice too much in the way of security to be consistent with the project's goals.