From: "L. Detweiler" <ld231782@longs.lance.colostate.edu>
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 93 19:24:19 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Web of Trust: A Proposal
Message-ID: <9311280322.AA20996@longs.lance.colostate.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Hello everyone, I've been watching these accusations of pseudospoofing
scroll by like everyone else, and have been quite upset by them.
Cypherpunks should be very careful in this atmosphere. We don't know
who to trust! Even the fiery responses to this message could be coming
from tentacles! I think the tentacle activity has increased
tremendously in the past few weeks because of the variety of recent exposures.

So, with an eye to preventing this poison, I'm trying to establish an
informal `Web of Trust' of cypherpunks who trust each other in posting
with real, and not pseudospoofed identities. I talked about creating
this list before, but there was no interest then. I think there is
interest now. People want to know if the people they respect really
exist and are who they say they are. They are concerned about a
campaign to create fake accounts across many states to manipulate the
trusting. They suspect that the incredible dischord on this list,
historically and presently, is really the fault of the pseudospoofing.
Many have complained to me of the `demonizing' and `discreditation' of
people who are attempting to establish an honest network of real
cypherpunks, turned into whimpering martyrs and scapegoats.

For now, I'm especially interested in making contact with some
California cypherpunks who have attended meetings and would like to
help establish a completely pure `Web of Trust' free of poisoning by
pseudospoofer. Gradually, we can get this net to grow to other states.

The idea is simple. You contact me if you are fed up with accusations
of pseudospoofing on this list and this dischord it has created. You
tell me the people you are willing to vouch for, and the evidence you
have of their existence. You help track down people who evade your
queries. Of course, we are not going to invade anyone's privacy here.
But we are going to keep track of people who think that showing some
identification to a fellow cypherpunk is an Invasion of Privacy. There
will be a set of `verified' and `unverified' listings, and we can
continually update them in the face of new information.

I'm sure that no loyal or honest cypherpunks would oppose this plan. It
is very similar to the PGP `web of trust' model except applied to real
identities and eyed with a much stronger view of keeping it pure and
uncorrupted by people who wish to embezzle `real reputation credit' from others.

The idea that fascinates me is that the most prominent cypherpunks
posting here are going to attempt to discredit my plan, either directly
or through pseudospoofed tentacles. In fact, I suspect that many
cypherpunks are now holding Tentacles and Snakes in high esteem. This
`web of trust' should help keep the integrity and honesty in our
interactions. For those of you not interested in honesty or integrity,
please refrain from sabotaging our plans and efforts at achieving it.

So, in particular, if any CA cypherpunks are interested in helping me
out, especially those who have attended meetings, please send me mail.
Thanks! Some of you who think the bizarre accusations of pseudospoofing
are completely unwarranted may be amused by helping me prove it.

(Some day, of course, this whole process will be automated of tracking
who is vouching for who and with what evidence, with powerful
`identitification mechanisms' and `true name servers' but for know we
have to do it tediously and manually by hand.)