Re: ADMIN: proposed new policy on the mailing list

I don't think restricting participation to signed messages
is a good idea until we have some way of verifying a 
signature automatically before allowing it to be posted.
Here's one: How do you verify a signature for an anonymous,
first time poster?

I am not opposed to the concept, just I don't think there's
a practical way of doing it. 

How about this: Require cypherpunks users to register a key
and an identity, real or pseudonymous. Then, they can
sign with the corresponding private key and nobody else
can. The software then filters out bad posts.

How do we prevent people from registering a key in
someone else's name??? It's beyond me.

Wonderer

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> Here's one: How do you verify a signature for an anonymous,
> first time poster?

You don't try -- what would it mean?  You accept the provided public
key, and use it to check the continuity of the pseudonym.

> How do we prevent people from registering a key in
> someone else's name??? It's beyond me.

The list, to check signatures, has to have a trusted key from
each nym.  But there are different sorts of trust.  One might
certify that a given key belongs to a known real-world meat
machine.  Or one might certify only that it corresponds to the
legitimate user of a given net address.  In theory, one could
even certify that the key holder was not forced to hand a copy
over the the NSA, or make whatever other guarantees one chooses.
I think the trusting of keys should be left to individuals, who
may have different ideas of what it means for them to accept
a given signature.

In PGP's "web of trust" model, is there a general consensus on what
it means to sign someone's key?

> Wonderer

   Eli   ebrandt@jarthur.claremont.edu