-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Date: Wed, 29 Nov 1995 08:20:46 -0800 From: "James A. Donald" <jamesd@echeque.com>
From: Rich Salz <rsalz@osf.org>
There is, of course, no way to interpret the semantics of this electronically.
At 10:11 AM 11/30/95 EST, Carl Ellison wrote:
Of course not. In the end, a human needs to make the decision based on ASCII text.
For those ascii texts that belong to a small and commonly used set, we can set our computers to automatically follow certain policies, and to bring to our attention "special case" texts that lie outside this set.
Exactly! We haven't yet learned that small and commonly used set -- understandably, since the field is so new. I'd be willing to bet that association between a key and a checking account would be on the list. Beyond that, I don't know. Once an element of that set is identified, it can be assigned a codeword (to make parsing easier). For example, a general certificate might be: - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Signing-Key-ID: f149b8e7e1f71e60964fff361dae2460 Signed-Key-ID: 76c68cb46a8e3de1509acaf4170feb10 Meaning: I have met this person, introduced to me as James, who signed with that key and I found him to be about 25 years old, roughly 5'11" and with dark hair. Beyond that I don't remember much. - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- [...] signature with the signing key - -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- While the specialized one might be: - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Signing-Key-ID: bc2cb00144f223498fcc074eabb821d0 Signed-Key-ID: e05c601c4ec4af3aeb54a53171ed65da Meaning: checking-account: 116 94265, First Security Bank - -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- [...] signature with First Security Bank's key - -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- This format has several advantages over ASN.1, of course, but I won't belabor that point here. - Carl +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Carl M. Ellison cme@tis.com http://www.clark.net/pub/cme | |Trusted Information Systems, Inc. http://www.tis.com/ | |3060 Washington Road PGP 2.6.2: 61E2DE7FCB9D7984E9C8048BA63221A2| |Glenwood MD 21738 Tel:(301)854-6889 FAX:(301)854-5363 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBML3ddFQXJENzYr45AQFxVQP/StUBo3fx4K97pv36af+2V40GUEGJircj lNWZXeZAlsU/i+wdEzzRF3nWQ/H6wZjJgQDVNlox74CsMJp6T1YLDvbJ6/EAMG9M kFIp6X2xkgnlZcH/4WsKqBDwTmF0kR0qoPWJY+7w5mtCrKNfsfN9JMaD4xdhueaM U323z50t7ck= =CxNl -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----