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1995-10-09 - Re: Certificate proposal

Header Data

From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: b36eb1e9dbd191f2d0a344bb8c76de3714a0fcb90be8d7c17031ecb07cf4559b
Message ID: <ac9ea8f3010210049f44@[205.199.118.202]>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1995-10-09 17:28:50 UTC
Raw Date: Mon, 9 Oct 95 10:28:50 PDT

Raw message

From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 95 10:28:50 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Certificate proposal
Message-ID: <ac9ea8f3010210049f44@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 4:46 PM 10/9/95, Hal wrote:
>Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com> writes:
....
>>also a signed attribute statement from the Bank's key that it's a bank, etc.
>>The meaning of the certificates changes a bit, but there's still a certificate
>>from the bank binding Alice's Key to Alice's Bank Account.
>
>I can see using keys with attributes in this way, for credentials or as
>other forms of authorization.  But what about for communications privacy?
>What is the attribute that tells you that using this key will prevent
>eavesdropping?

For communication, the only credential Alice needs to ensure that only Bob
can read her message is that she uses Bob's public key. If "Bob the Key"
reads it, presumably it was "Bob the Person" who read it.

(Again, Bob the Key = Bob the Person to many of us. If Bob the Person has
let his private key out, so that Chuck the Person is also able to read the
Bob the Key stuff, etc., then of course cryptography cannot really handle
this situtation.)

--Tim May


Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
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