Trustworthy contacts

[David Hansen]

On 11 Sep 00, at 14:19, Owen Lewis wrote:

> As I have suggested in another recent thread, hierarchical secure
> stems have a great deal going for them and have a well established
> track record in many situations.

In the field of commerce, which we are discussing, they have no real 
track record at all. Even if they are desirable they cannot be made 
to fit commerce, unless individuals and individual organisations are 
fitted into the hierachy. The likelyhood of this happening is I 
believe zero, much though some people and organisations may want to 
do so.

> Either the rights are vested in the organisation

That is not the case with commerce. I agree that some organisations 
are trying to gain more and more control over information, but this 
is being resisted.

> or, even where that is not so, it is the
> organisation rather than the individual that may suffer most where
> there is a system falure or security breach.

Would that this is the case. In reality the banks have sloping 
shoulders and have somehow managed to convince government to coat 
their sloping shoulders with teflon.
 
> Even where there are real individual rights in the infomation, e.g.
> personal data, any case for dispensing with hierarchical controls has
> yet to be made.

There are no hierachical controls over much commerce information. I 
see no need to introduce them.




 David Hansen | davidh@spidacom.co.uk  | PGP email preferred
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