Key Servers

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I don't see what you mean by key servers for only true names.
How do you know that a true name isn't just a false identity
created with a real account on some system? How do you differentiate
a true name from a unix account?

Wonderer

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> I don't see what you mean by key servers for only true names.
> How do you know that a true name isn't just a false identity
> created with a real account on some system? How do you differentiate
> a true name from a unix account?

The whole concept of a true name is a fantasy.  A persons name is
neither unique nor unchanging.

My passport reads "Brad Huntting", but if tomorrow I decide I want
to be called "@*!" (pronounced "crash boom bang") instead, then
that's my name.

Even today I go by many written names:

	Brad
	Brad Huntting
	Bradley E Huntting
	Brad E Huntting
	Bradley Enoch Huntting
	beh
	huntting
	Enoch (mabey not)

That's case insensitive and doesn't include the hundreds or thousands
of e-mail addresses which mean me.

The point is, a name is a handle.  It doesn't need to be unique or
static, all it needs to do is refer to someone or something in a
reasonably unambiguous way.

Besides, if I understand your idea of what a "true name" is (the
name your parents or your government have assigned to you), then
the whole idea of having a "true names" pgp key server is outrageously
bigoted, since the vast majority of people cant write their "true
name" in ascii.


brad

Wonderer> == wonderer  <an41418@anon.penet.fi>

 Wonderer> I don't see what you mean by key servers for only true names.
 Wonderer> How do you know that a true name isn't just a false identity
 Wonderer> created with a real account on some system? How do you
 Wonderer> differentiate a true name from a unix account?

You can't.

As has already been pointed out on the list, the key servers have nothing
to do with binding keys to humans (or other entities, presumably :-).
Only a trusted (by you) key signature can do that; the key servers merely
serve as a way to distribute the keys.

The way to "certify" a key as belonging to a True Name is (again, as has
already been pointed out) to have a signing key that goes along with some
policy.  That gives keys signed by that key some level of trust, depending
of course on how stringent the policy and how much you trust the signer
not to be fooled (or malicious).

If someone wishes to only deal with cyberspacial entities that have
Certified True Names, then that someone can easily take steps to do so.
(And if that someone decides that I'm simply a "brand new Tentacle" or
whatever, that's not my problem; I'm easy enough to verify as a human, if
it's that big a deal...)
-- 
Christopher Davis * <ckd@kei.com> * (was <ckd@eff.org>) * MIME * RIPEM * [CKD1]
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