[47888] in Cypherpunks
Signing nyms' keys (Was: Report on Portland Cpunks...)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Martin Janzen)
Wed Jan 24 16:48:50 1996
From: Martin Janzen <janzen@idacom.hp.com>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 96 13:42:10 PST
In-Reply-To: <2.2.32.19960124195005.006b9940@mail.teleport.com>; from "Bruce Baugh" at Jan 24, 96 11:50 am
Reply-To: janzen@idacom.hp.com
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Bruce Baugh writes:
> >If, on the other hand, I sign "Toxic Avenger"'s key, then what benefit is
> >this for third parties? Since Toxic Avenger is, by intention, _not_ linked
> >to a real person, I'm not saying that I feel confident that this key really
> >belongs to any particular real person. What am I saying?
> Over time, some nyms take on a distinct identity of their own. [...] The
> thought, therefore, as I imagine it would be "You don't know I am in person,
> but you can count on me to be who I am, with this style and set of views,
> and I say that this guy is another actual person with the same."
So are you saying that by signing a nym's key, you're asserting that you
know _the individual(s) behind the nym_? If so, would this association
not weaken the anonymity of the nym whose key you've signed?
Furthermore, by signing a nym's key you place yourself at risk. If you
sign the nym's key with your own key -- or sign using the key of your
own nym, and that nym is subsequently "outed" -- then anyone wishing to
find the individual(s) behind any nym whose key you've signed can
attempt to coerce you into revealing this information, since you have
claimed to know it.
- --
Martin Janzen janzen@idacom.hp.com
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