From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 94 18:38:05 PDT
To: solman@MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: Problems with anonymous escrow 2--response
In-Reply-To: <9409010008.AA07101@ua.MIT.EDU>
Message-ID: <199409010136.SAA29637@netcom5.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Jason S. said:

> People are using anonymity in a different way than has practical value
> within cyberspace. Anonymity usually means that you can not match a
> physical realm person to a cyberspatial private key. But that doesn't
> mean you don't know anything about the entity. The skills of an entity
> without any reputation capital are absolutely worthless. But usually an 
> anonymous entity will come around brandishing all sorts of certifications 
> (reputation capital).
> 
> So, as it is usually used, anonymity does not mean zero knowledge. It
> means you lack knowledge that would enable you to match the key to the
> physical realm person it corresponds to. With this in mind, the
> coexistence of the aforementioned attributes ceases to be problematic.

I think most of us understand this is what "pseudonymity" means...we
only use "anonymous" as shorthand for this. You can quibble about
this, and I might agree that the more awkward "pseudonymous" is a
better term, but no one is being misled into thinking that "anonymous"
means truly anonymous, with no credentials, no reputation, no trail.

--Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."