At 5:03 PM 10/5/95, Carl Ellison wrote:

Crypto is used for making sure that insiders get in while outsiders are kept out of encrypted files/messages.

Strong crypto does a better job of keeping outsiders out.

Things like TIS CKE are mechanisms for making sure that insiders continue to get in, in spite of mishaps with their keys.

Any such system can be evaluated on its technical merits (does it really separate the insiders from the outsiders as well as it claims to?) (does it survive various disasters (because if it doesn't survive, it can't keep insiders in)?)

This is a separate topic from GAK -- which boils down to the Government's claim that it should be listed as an insider for everybody.

That's what needs to be brought to everyone's attention.

This is a very nice metaphor for what is going on. It also touches on some of the issues about key certification. The issue of who a person is has nothing to do directly with whether they are an "insider" or an "outsider." (In fact, who a person "really is" is almost beside the point.) --Tim May Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."