re: [local] Report on Portland Cpunks meeting

At 01:33 PM 1/24/96 -0500, Jonathan Rochkind wrote:

>If, on the other hand, I sign "Toxic Avenger"'s key, then what benefit is
>this for third parties?  Since Toxic Avenger is, by intention, _not_ linked
>to a real person, I'm not saying that I feel confident that this key really
>belongs to any particular real person.  What am I saying?

Over time, some nyms take on a distinct identity of their own. In fact, some
do it very quickly, a with the neo-Nazi twits now arguing in favor of
rec.music.white-power over on news.groups, some with distinct "voices". The
thought, therefore, as I imagine it would be "You don't know I am in person,
but you can count on me to be who I am, with this style and set of views,
and I say that this guy is another actual person with the same."

Bruce Baugh
bruceab@teleport.com
http://www.teleport.com/~bruceab

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Bruce Baugh writes:
> >If, on the other hand, I sign "Toxic Avenger"'s key, then what benefit is
> >this for third parties?  Since Toxic Avenger is, by intention, _not_ linked
> >to a real person, I'm not saying that I feel confident that this key really
> >belongs to any particular real person.  What am I saying?

> Over time, some nyms take on a distinct identity of their own. [...] The
> thought, therefore, as I imagine it would be "You don't know I am in person,
> but you can count on me to be who I am, with this style and set of views,
> and I say that this guy is another actual person with the same."

So are you saying that by signing a nym's key, you're asserting that you
know _the individual(s) behind the nym_?  If so, would this association
not weaken the anonymity of the nym whose key you've signed?

Furthermore, by signing a nym's key you place yourself at risk.  If you
sign the nym's key with your own key -- or sign using the key of your
own nym, and that nym is subsequently "outed" -- then anyone wishing to
find the individual(s) behind any nym whose key you've signed can
attempt to coerce you into revealing this information, since you have
claimed to know it.

- --
Martin Janzen           janzen@idacom.hp.com


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2

iQCVAwUBMQand23Fsi8cupgZAQGmqQQAk7bRYJNxhsw9xHDgoL7fEiZ7faLDeuR9
bYEYnj7tZRWMRaVudEn1G3tsaHF7MS/DuOPRWci6v3dQ742Y8amlqytGWcdpNLn+
qR5RtRvKyDaWR0pi3j+WQ6y8y0WyFrVk1z8/cFKVQWfZvgs1Zjs6R87DWreiN2hr
1Ywm0AA+BIg=
=4phF
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----