James A. Donald wrote: (the topic being using ersatz sigs to defeat the sig inspector)
Actually it is even worse than that: It is like wearing red ribbons to protest AIDS.
A checker that checked signatures for consistent ID would actually promote cryptography.
A checker that merely checks if a signature looks like a signature merely makes cryptography look stupid, like a power ranger suit.
I'm back in agreement with James Donald (Chomsky is spinning). More that just making crypto look stupid, a game to be played, this whole "toad will only check that the _form_ of crypto is sort of present" (caveat: this is short-hand for the case presented) defeats the whole purpose of user-to-user verfication. I'm interested in systems which actually allow me to _really verify_ sigs if I have to (not often, I hope, and expect), not get a casual comment from another system/user that it "appears" that a sig is attached. I wasn't kidding earlier today (apologies that I'm reading the later mail first, as I just got home) when I argued that toad messages ought to be signed. That is, all traffic from toad. If sigs are to be compelled (Note to Eric on a point he made earlier: a compelled sig is one which is compulsory if a post is not to be bounced, as per Eric's message about delaying and then eventually bouncing unsigned messages), which I consider unwise, then such sigs should *actually be checked*, with the resulting checked messages then signed by toad/Eric/Hugh/John/whatever. Anything less than this is actually counterproductive, as it fosters a non-Cypherpunkish view of placing trust in others to do what technology allows one to do directly. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Cypherpunks list: majordomo@toad.com with body message of only: subscribe cypherpunks. FAQ available at ftp.netcom.com in pub/tcmay