Trustworthy contacts

[David Hansen]

On 11 Sep 00, at 18:33, 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.
> 
> Wow, that is a sweeping statement.

It is.

> I would say, rather, that insofaras
> that is a history of  cipher use in commerce that is a history using
> hierarchical manageent models.

I'm not convinced. The vast majority of "commerce" has not used such 
technology in the past, due to the malign influence of GCHQ. That has 
yet to change.

Those organisations that did use it were hierachical in nature. 
However, they are far less hierachical now than they were 10 years 
ago.

> Too damn right it is. My company owns the data and intellectual
> property it creates (we do not create personal data). [snip] Conversely,
> where others send us data (for analysis or whatever) that data is not
> owned by us but by whichever company sends us the copy.

An excellent example of why a hierachical model will not work. Unless 
you and the other company are controlled by a holding company then 
you don't have the sort of permanent relationship a hierachy implies. 
Rather you make and break relationships as necessary. The public key 
model fits this sort of relationship, the secret key model does not.

> I think you equate 'hierarchical' controls to control by govt.

No.

> All companies have a management structure.

Yes, but e-commerce is about how these companies trade with each 
other, not about how they trade internally.

This trading needs to be done quickly, without waiting for key 
material to be delivered from a "trusted" party. There are risks with 
a public key system, these are manageable just like the many other 
risks businesses face.






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