Management of signature keys for government

[Paul Leyland]

Ross wrote about personalizing cards:

> It is in theory possible for keypairs to be generated locally by the
> user. Of course, one would need something like a trustworthy terminal
> in a public place into which a customer could insert a virgin card,
> wait while it computed a key, then obtain from it a printed key
> fingerprint which she could sign and present together with ID to a
> clerk in order to get a certificate. It's unlikely that the uptake of
> cards would be high if getting one involved so much hassle.

It seems to me that he's analyzing only the cost and not the benefit of the
process.   Consider: a very large number of people go to substantially more
trouble than that described above so that they can obtain a passport.   If
the benefit from obtaining a card is comparable (or even significantly less)
than that from obtaining a passport, the takeup will be high.


Paul