At 11:35 PM 5/21/96 -0400, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:

From: IN%"frantz@netcom.com" 18-MAY-1996 21:54:01.23

...

This is exactly analogous to slanderous attack on someone's reputation. As soon as people realize that the mere fact that a key has a signature does not mean that the key-owner solicited the signature, the problem goes away.

This is interesting in light of social networks analysis as applied to the web of trust (one interesting web-reference on such analysis is at http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/~lk/netvis.html; as well as some examples - use a graphics-capable web browser - it has some links to a FTP site with programs). One method of such analysis uses what is sometimes called "gravity;" under it, positions move to be close to those to which they are linked. This can be one-way or two-way; the above fact may imply that signing someone's key should move one closer to that person - and not the other way around. Of course, when analyzing the result, one should keep in mind that one may not have beneficial intent when signing a key; LD's signatures are examples. Thus, closeness on such a network may imply a high degree of relationship, but not a high degree of _positive_ relationship.

Perhaps what is needed is anti-gravity for those signitures that are not desired by the key owner. The resulting map should show the closeness of the relationship. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA