Certainly not enough to justify the rest: Can you name one example of an author of a package including some virus? Not someone putting one post-production (individual signing will prevent that), but the original author?

It's a straw man.

Well, there was that CD-ROM program of a couple months ago that professed to be from one of the drive manufacturers (but wasn't) containing some kind of Binary Nasty (tm). The mfr's finally had to post (far and wide) the fact that it was *not* their program. The program was posted using a false ID, etc. Don't know if the Bellcore system would prevent that, but it is *one* example, anyway. I'm not arguing that the Bellcore system is the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything; just that there are some small pieces to it that have *some* perceivable merit to them. Personally, I wouldn't want anything to do with it - as you note, the costs and hazards _far_ outweigh any benefits, and there are easier and more secure ways of accomplishing the same things. Dave Merriman - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finger merriman@metronet.com for PGP/RIPEM public keys and fingerprints. Unencrypted Email may be ignored without notice to sender. PGP preferred. Remember: It is not enough to _obey_ Big Brother; you must also learn to *love* Big Brother.