Adam Shostack writes:

... For keys to be really global, there needs to be a mechanism in place for insuring that key ids are very probably unique.

___________________________________________________________________ And Hal <hfinney@shell.portal.com>

... The fact is, we live in a world populated by people and companies and we use names to identify them. I will grant that there are problems with uniqueness but...

No problem. The ultimate way to ensure that keys are globally unique is to link them to the person's own genetic code. Fingers they might cut, but... Just imagine, in 1999+ every department store and a mall in the land will provide a service of a quick DNA scan and key mapping. Most likely they will put the small scanning machine in the shoe repair section, to substitute for the metal key cutting business. You put your hair in and -- voila! -- the thing will insert your unique key in your own smart card. For corporations they might require to keep in perpetuity a piece of a founding CEO in a cookie jar. The U.S. Government will have to unearth again poor Ulysses S. Grant, this time with a far more valid reason. Or perhaps Mr. Clinton would volunteer a donation in kind. With so much of happy progress, one might like to puke... Except, there is too much genetic material there to incriminate you far beyond the reasonable doubt. Unless, of course, you can afford Mr. Cochrane as your attorney. Being a Goldmann, the last thought really scares me. Very best to all and sundry. ___________________________________________________________________ P.S. Scott Brickner <sjb@universe.digex.net> said:

... Remembering that we're talking about a world that's sufficiently changed as to permit anonyms at all...

Right on! Nahum Goldmann, ARRAY Development Inc., Ottawa, Canada Phone 613-733-0399, FAX 613-733-5691, email: Nahum.Goldmann@ARRAYdev.com> Homepage: http://www.ARRAYdev.com/ N. Goldmann, Online Information Hunting - the first book for the end-user!