From: frantz@netcom.com (Bill Frantz)
Date: Wed, 8 May 1996 16:09:37 +0800
To: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Subject: Re: Transitive trust and MLM
Message-ID: <199605080409.VAA06882@netcom8.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 11:13 PM 5/7/96 -0400, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:
>From:   IN%"frantz@netcom.com"  7-MAY-1996 23:02:33.09
>
>>Some of the solution to this problem may come from the answer to the
>>question, "What am I trusting the receiver with?"  I can see a number of
>>possibilities:
>
>        I think you've forgotten to allow for the signature use. I may want to
>know if someone who's posting is indeed the usual/proper person posting from
>that address, and in most situations without transitivity I won't be able to
>tell.

Indeed, signing is something I shouldn't forget (having harassed Senator
Leahy on the same subject).  I will offer two observations on the subject:
(1) Many posts signed by the same key define a personality.  The key is
"key", not the email address, but they become associated. (2) When in
doubt, ask the poster via private email.  This method reduces to the levels
of trust I described in, "What am I trusting the receiver with?"

N.B. I don't sign my posts because I want "implausible deniability".

Regards - Bill


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