I fairly sure that when you're storing encrypted values, you need to use a VARBINARY(MAX) to do it.

I don't have access to my test server right now, or...

What would it take to get MS to create a role so that people could view the SQL logs without having to either put them in the securityadmin role, or...

Checking for symmetric keys won't tell you if a database has been TDE encrypted, though.

A query to check for databases that are TDE'ed you could use is:

Oddly despite being a PC geek, my desktop at home is more than sufficient for my current (and foreseeable future) needs.  I've got a decently beefy home lab racked in...

Either the amount the file will grow (if auto-grow...

I'm not sure government regulation is going to be the way to go (as jay-h commented, how'd that work out for the NSA?) but something does need to be done. ...

I puttered with this a bit yesterday and I don't see giving up SSMS for it anytime soon, at least not as a full time tool.

What I could...

Kept meaning to comment on this editorial, finally got around to it...

I'm not a holiday / company party sort of person.  I tend not to be one of...