Nomen Nescio wrote:
Some of the claims seem a little broad, like this first one:
1. A method for establishing a pseudonym system by having a certificate authority accepting a user as a new participant in said pseudonym system, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a first public key provided by said user; verifying that said user is allowed to join the system; computing a credential by signing the first public key using a secret key owned by said certificate authority; publishing said first public key and said credential.
Wouldn't this general description cover most proposed credential systems in the past, such as those by Chaum or Brands?
Or, indeed, X.509. Cheers, Ben. -- http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html http://www.thebunker.net/ "There is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit." - Robert Woodruff --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo@wasabisystems.com