> I'm a product of the Great
> Depresssion, and so security for me fixates on political snooping. I'm
> less concerned about being ripped off than looming fascism. I'm not
> suggsting your concern is not important, jut that it is not the same
> as my own.

My concerns relate to both of those. People being easily identified and
tracked in real life is something that strengthens authoritarian regimes
(whether fascist or communist) as well coercive corporate interests.

> For me security refers primarily to file access. This takes me back to
> my question. If I craete a new user, named zoom for example, and have
> it run zoom, won't that limit access files on my HD?

Yes, under two conditions:

  - your other users (holding confidential data) have more restrictive 
    permissions on their directories (chmod 700 ~)

  - the application won't try a local privilege escalation exploit 
    (kernel or CPU bug, or even back door). 

regards

marc