From: frantz@netcom.com (Bill Frantz)
Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 19:18:10 +0800
To: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Subject: Re: Senator, your public key please?
Message-ID: <199605220544.WAA17527@netcom8.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 11:35 PM 5/21/96 -0400, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:
>From:   IN%"frantz@netcom.com" 18-MAY-1996 21:54:01.23
>
>>This is exactly analogous to slanderous attack on someone's reputation.  As
>>soon as people realize that the mere fact that a key has a signature does
>>not mean that the key-owner solicited the signature, the problem goes away.
>
>        This is interesting in light of social networks analysis as applied
>to the web of trust (one interesting web-reference on such analysis is at
>http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/~lk/netvis.html; as well as some examples - use
>a graphics-capable web browser - it has some links to a FTP site with
>programs). One method of such analysis uses what is sometimes called "gravity;"
>under it, positions move to be close to those to which they are linked. This
>can be one-way or two-way; the above fact may imply that signing someone's key
>should move one closer to that person - and not the other way around. Of
>course, when analyzing the result, one should keep in mind that one may not
>have beneficial intent when signing a key; LD's signatures are examples. Thus,
>closeness on such a network may imply a high degree of relationship, but not
>a high degree of _positive_ relationship.

Perhaps what is needed is anti-gravity for those signitures that are not
desired by the key owner.  The resulting map should show the closeness of
the relationship.


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