From: Matt Willis <ASTMWILL%STETSON.bitnet@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 09:51:02 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Acceptance of Keys
Message-ID: <01GT4DS9PKZ40000QP@stetson.bitnet>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


<As excerpted from Julf (admin@anon.penet.fi)
>Richard Childers writes:
>
>> It is the user's job to hide his or her identity, but it should not
>> be the programmer's responsibility to anticipate the user's failure
>> to think at all. Someone who uses these tools without understanding
>> the principles upon which they are founded - such as people whom
>> accept keys from individuals whom are only electronically known -
>> will quickly founder upon their own, um, state of stupor, and one
>> should not undertake to protect them from this, as what you are pro-
>> -tecting them from, in reality, is the opportunity to learn from
>> their mistakes.

As wary as I am of expressing my ignorance, I'll give it a shot...

I'm new to the Cypherpunks list and I'm just curious, is it going against the
principles of PGP to "accept keys from individuals whom are only electronically
known"?    (if so, I guess I'm in a state of stupor)

Most of my dealings on the internet are internet-exclusive, that is, I never
meet the people with whom I communicate.  With the exception of some locals,
computer social life in FL, USA is pretty non-existant.  I wish my
communications to be secure and I believe that PGP is the best way and I will
never have the opportunity to meet the people I talk to in Kansas or in New
York  (both places, I hope I never visit).
If meat-relations are the only secure way I'm supposed to communicate, then I
guess I'll have to use carrier pigeons.   :)

DISCLAIMER:
Of course, I could be taking this TOTALLY out of context, and in that case this
message should read:
Hey, I really like this list... It's intellectually stimulating and a clearly
positive influence on my life.  How's the weather in Europe?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just have serious questions about the
keeping of public keys...  here's another one... couldn't we assign one at
birth... it'd be better than a social security number (dunno what you use in
Europe), but a whole lot harder to remember...

ALSO:  We Mac users are wondering when MacPGP 2.1 will be out?  Anyone have any
contact info?

thanks for reading my words.

+-------Matt-Willis--------------------------------+
|       Matt Willis       ASTMWILL@STETSON.BITNET  |        elsewhere:
|       Matt Willis       Head of the Underground  | mwill@mindvox.phantom.com
|       Matt Willis          Robotech PBM List     |
+-------Matt-Willis--------------------------------+
"Absolutely alone in awareness of the mechanism." -Agrippa by WG