I may not have been clear: the certificate I was referring to was the one from Egghead, the one which I will use to make sure that I have a valid key for Egghead. Such a certificate would of course not have my credit card number; it would probably have some information related to Egghead. My rhetorical point was that information would most plausibly be a NAME by which I would refer to Egghead. I am still trying to understand how these proposals to take names out of the picture will apply to a commonplace situation like this one.

The certificate would identify the entity you're having commerce with. It doesn't have to have a name, the certificate would replace the need for a name. If you wanted a name, you could use the certificate to access it. The certificate would give you a public key that would be the central identifier. Associated with it might be many attributes of the key-entity. You might use the key to find out a name, and bank account number, or an ip-address to use to communicate with. Don't think of it as being a name, "Egghead Software", and this is the key associated with it. Think of the key as the central thing. Patrick _______________________________________________________________________ / These opinions are mine, and not Verity's (except by coincidence;). \ | (\ | | Patrick J. Horgan Verity Inc. \\ Have | | patrick@verity.com 1550 Plymouth Street \\ _ Sword | | Phone : (415)960-7600 Mountain View \\/ Will | | FAX : (415)960-7750 California 94303 _/\\ Travel | \___________________________________________________________\)__________/