From: Alan Pugh <0003701548@mcimail.com>
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 95 20:59:06 PST
To: "cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Fwd: Seals and Sealing Waxes
Message-ID: <10950208045401/0003701548PJ3EM@MCIMAIL.COM>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Date: Tue Feb 07, 1995  10:15 PM EST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Fwd: Seals and Sealing Waxes
Message-Id:                                         

TM> "All crypto is economics," and this is what made seals and sealing wax so
TM> useful for so long. Saying "seals were duplicatable from the start" does
TM> not mean this feat was easy, even if technically possible.

TM> In fact, the fine details produced by a good seal are hard to exactly
TM> emulate with a copy. Even on a two-dimensional surface. And with the
advent
TM> of three-dimensional surfaces, which sealing wax made possible, the fine
TM> detail of a good seal was in fact very hard to forge.

TM> Not impossible, but very costly with the technology of the day. Or even
the
TM> technology of _today_. After all, paper currency is largely based on seal
TM> technology, with various embossing, printing, etc. methods used (on
special
TM> paper) that remain fairly hard to duplicate.
    
true. thanks for the reminder of seals. i need to work this analogy into my
current 'lecture' on the usefullness of encryption.

_puzzle palace_ makes reference to british intellegence making use of people
trained into the use of people trained to reproduce seals. this is something 
for us to look out for from the fine folx at nsa. if there is a way to spoof
signatures (as mentioned in another thread recently), they will be perfecting
and perhaps using these methods if they feel the need is great enough.

i promote encryption using pgp with a lot of stress on the privacy and
veracity of documents in business settings. 

how strong is the hash used by pgp? do you think it will eventually be
hashed out in the courts in our favour?(pun semi-intended)
                                  
i'd like digital signatures w/verifiable timestamps be recognised in a
court of law. i don't know of any cases revolving around this issue.
if anyone out there knows of one, i'd be interested in hearing of it
so i can track it's progress.

btw: though it is a pain sometimes to weed the noise off this list due
to my (very) limited net access, it has proved to be an excellent
resource. my thanks to the regulars. 

- --if i could code worth a damn i'd be a cypherpunk

amp
<0003701548@mcimail.com>
February 7, 1995   22:17

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