Am 30. Sep, 2002 schwätzte Randy Kaelber so:
> Well, if you chase this path down to reductio ad absurdum, I have no
> way to verify anyone is anyone they claim to be. Continue further down
Exactly. You can only verify they are the ones claiming to be them. There
are limits to that as well, but it's not as easy to pretend you're someone
else as movies make it seem.
> this path and you run smack into the disciplines of philosophy and
> epistemology (and is anybody here in the mood for debates on the merits
> of solipsism?).
>
> I only sign keys for personal friends and people I've dealt with for
> relatively long periods of time (a year at least). Accepting a key for
Good idea.
> use is not the same as signing it. However, at a key signing party, if
Yup. Sign it for personal use and only make it public after you feel
confident that 'fred' has been 'fred' for a while.
> I just meet you and sign a key because I meet you face to face, I might
Key signing parties should be mostly for personal verification. What it also
allows is the standard party intro type of thing. "Hey, Anke, this is Fred.
Fred, this is Anke.". If both Fred and Anke trust me, then they can have
some confidence that they are indeed themselves. ( English teachers and
linguists should please ignore any grammatical problems with the preceeding
paragraph :)
> just as well download every key from a key server and sign them all.
> I've got to have standards. I suppose I'd be willing to conduct
> complete background checks on people before signing their keys, but then
> I'd have to charge several hundred dollars for the privilege and change
> my name to VeriSign. :-)
Nah. Actually doing a check and verifying the authenticity of a claim to an
ID would probably go against VeriSign policy. Buying the competition,
keeping it open, but then forcing people to pay the original fee *and* your
fee to actually get a cert, now that sounds like VeriSign.
> Here's the cool thing: If you don't like my signing rules, you don't
> HAVE to trust my signature. It's easy as that.
Exactly. We're taking all of this on our own terms.
ciao,
der.hans
--
# https://www.LuftHans.com/ http://www.TOLISGroup.com/
# When I work, I work hard. When I play, I play hard.
# When I sit, I sleep. - Embe Kugler
(text/plain)