TIP: Click on subject to list as thread! ANSI
echo: scanners
to: BILL CHEEK
from: MARTIN NIEMEYER
date: 1996-08-18 13:29:00
subject: RULEMAKING: PGP SIGS

On (16 Aug 96) Bill Cheek wrote to Bud Jamison...
 BC> Yo! Bud:
 BC> Thursday August 15 1996 12:09, Bud Jamison wrote to Joe Nicholson:
 BJ> But... there's NOTHING being posted in echos that needs to be that
 BJ> securely verified as to require a PGP sig.
 BC> That is probably the strongest argument to date.
 BC> However.........what if someone logs into a BBS under someone else's
 BC> name and forges messages of low degree?  Guess what would happen if
 BC> some dork logged on as "Bud Jamison" and told me he wasn't going to
 BC> obey the rules anymore?
 BC> OK, so I boot him from whatever BBS he used.  SO he logs into another
 BC> one. And another.  After a while, the name of "Bud Jamison" just
 BC> becomes mud, no matter which BBS and point of origin.
what's to prove the real BUD would always use a public key
Couldn't someone do this anyway, whether the real BUD used a public
key or not? True you would know which one was the real Bud but his
name would still be mud either way.  Also, what's to prove the real
BUD would always use a public key. A person wanting to stir up a lot
of crap, could establish a legitimate address, and kiss up to the
moderator big time, just to make sure the moderator knew he was one
of the good guys, and make sure he always used a public key from
that address, then log on bbs's at other locations and post messages
slinging a lot of crap, and claim complete innocence while basking
in the attention that is flowing around him.
The other side of the coin, is what would it do to the band width of
the FidoNet backbone if everyone, used a public key? It would get so
big that it would be ridiculous.
 BC> Far fetched here, maybe.  Especially since I know you.  Forgery is a
 BC> way of life on the Internet.  Digital sigs are looming as a way of
 BC> life.  THAT is why the topic is open for discussion here.  The answers
 BC> aren't all that black and white, as I see them.
 BC> FidoNet has been rolling with the punches of the last couple of years,
 BC> and has not fared well.  I intend to do my part by carefully
 BC> reconsidering old ideas and considering new ideas before making flat
 BC> rulings that can spin off and impact the entire net.
 BC> What the heck?
 BC> Bill Cheek | Internet: bcheek@cts.com | Compu$erve: 74107,1176
 BC> Windows 95 Juggernaut Team | Microsoft MVP | Moderator - SCANRADIO
 BC> --- Hertzian Mail+
 BC> (1:202/731)
... Make love, not war; get married and do both!
--- PPoint 2.00
---------------
BC> * Origin: Hertzian Intercept-San Diego 619-578-9247 (6pm-1pm)
* Origin: The PROUD owner of a Radio Shack PRO-39 (1:105/40.39)

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