Discouraging credential sharing with Mojo
Some credential issuing schemes, such as those from Brands as well as from Camenisch & Lysyanskaya, try to avoid credential sharing by embedding into the credential some secret which is important and valuable to the credential holder. Then if the credential is shared, the recipient learns the important secret, to the detriment of the person sharing the credential. So he won't do it. The problem is that there don't seem to be any secrets that will work well in discouraging sharing. The most obvious is a credit card number, but this has a number of problems: some people don't have credit cards; people could cancel their credit cards after receiving the credentia; and underground hackers have access to thousands of stolen credit card numbers that they don't mind sharing. Clearly we need a new approach. Here is a suggestion for a simple solution which will give everyone an important secret that they will avoid sharing. At birth each person will be issued a secret key. This will be called his Mojo. He will also get the associated public key which will assist in protocols which involve commiting to his Mojo. The public key can be revealed but the Mojo should be kept secret at all costs. Then in a credential issuing protocol, the user embeds his Mojo into his credential in a provable way. It is important that the protocol not reveal the Mojo to the issuer, but rather that some kind of zero knowledge proof be used so that the issuer is confident that sharing the credential will reveal the Mojo. Now all that is needed is a simple change to the law so that knowing someone's Mojo makes him your slave. That is, if you know someone's Mojo you own him. You get access to all his money and all his assets. You can force him to work for you and take all he earns. You can mistreat and even kill him. If he tries to escape, the Runaway Mojo Slave act will commit the government to tracking him down and returning him to you. With this small change to the law, everyone will be gifted with an important secret which they can use to bind and commit themselves in a variety of protocols. By embedding their Mojo into their secret credentials, they can assure the credential issuer that the credential won't be shared. Mojo can also serve as an "is a person" credential and allow for secure electronic voting and other protocols where each person should only participate once. Please join me in supporting this important reform. Just say, "I want my Mojo!"
On Wed, 21 Aug 2002, Anonymous wrote:
Clearly we need a new approach. Here is a suggestion for a simple solution which will give everyone an important secret that they will avoid sharing.
At birth each person will be issued a secret key. This will be called his Mojo.
[snip]
Now all that is needed is a simple change to the law so that knowing someone's Mojo makes him your slave.
Virtually all cultures have held the mythological belief that all "beings with souls" have a True Name, and that knowledge of one's true name leads to power over him. (This isn't really surprising, since the True Name concept features prominently in Babylonian mythology, from which the myths of nearly all other civilizations have sprung.) For instance, knowing the True Name of a god could result in one being granted godly powers, or immortality (cf: Isis learning the True Name of Ra in Egyptian mythology). In Greek (and neo-pagan) nature myths, speaking the true name of a landscape object could give the speaker protection or favors from the spirit inhabiting the object. In Hebrew, Essene, and Islamic mythology, as well as Celtic, Pacific Island, and Norse tales, the True Name theme appears repeatedly. Etc. It sounds like you wish to revive this superstition, but instead make it cryptographically enforcable. "Trust in the laws of mathematics and men, not of gods?" Welcome to the Church of Strong Cryptography.
Please join me in supporting this important reform.
Just say, "I want my Mojo!"
Sometimes, I wonder if some of these posts are not intended to be as ironic as they appear. -MW-
participants (2)
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Anonymous
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Meyer Wolfsheim