Mainstreaming PGP on Usenet

[Dr. Dimitri Vulis]

ichudov at algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes:
> Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
...
> > One issue that hasn't been addressed by the s.c.r.m robomod is the
> > possibility of persistent nyms: that is, Alice D. Nonymous somehow makes
> > her public key known to the robomod; and later if someone submits an articl
> > via some anon remailer claiming to be hers, it would be rejected if the
> > signature doesn't check. Of course, her true submissions would be accepted
> > from any remailer. How could such protocol be implemented?
>
> We see no problem with user posting under pseudonyms, as long as they do
> not try to pretend to be other real people and do not constantly mutate,
> and submit their messages to the robomoderator for consideration.

On the contrary, I was thinking of a situation when a person is posting through
an anonymous remailer, yet wishes to establish a persistent nym that can't be
impersonated. E.g., someone may submit articles via remailers (different every
time) and have a signature 'Alice D. N.'; what's to prevent someone else from
submitting an article and also signing it 'Alice D. N.'?

I was thinking of allowing the user to add a 'From: <nym>' in the first
paragraph of the PGP-signed block. To establish the nym, Alice would first
post her public key under the name of Alice; then she would post things like

From: remailer at somewhere

-- begin pgp signed msg

From: Alice

...

This would also address the problem of someone's misconfigured system where
his submissions appear to come from moron at camelot.ptu.edu or
moron at pendragon.ptu.edu or some other random hostname.

P.S. So, when are you setting up your own mixmaster remailer, Igor? :-)

---

Dr. Dimitri Vulis
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps