From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 14:12:14 +0800
To: Cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Clipper III analysis
Message-ID: <add251951f021004f0e4@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 1:57 AM 5/30/96, jonathon wrote:
....
>        It is a specialty within the QDE Field, but there are a few
>        QDE's that are _currently_ doing that.  << Printed hard copy,
>        not electronic copy, but that is the _only_ difference.  >>
>
>> I would be very interested to hear how a "Questioned Document Examiner" can
>
>        It is at the point where statistics, textual analysis, grammar
>        and lingustics converge.
>
>> possibly determine that a digital signature was not applied by a particular
>> person.
>
>        I don't remember the minimum number of characters that are needed
>        to establish that a document was written by a specific individual.
>        Roughly fifteen pages of text that both sides admit as being
>        authentic is required for the undisputed exemplars.

Ah, but the issue of who _signs_ a document is fundamentally and
importantly different from the issue of who _wrote_ the document.

If I have allegedly _signed_ a contract, who cares if exhaustive analysis
reveals it to have been _written_ with 77.93% probability by Irving J.
Shlublutz, CPA for State Farm Insurance Compance?

The issue with digital signatures is who _signed_ a document, not who
_wrote_ a document.

--Tim May


Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
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