Met and PKI

[Andy Fawcett]

On Thursday 03 May 2001 17:27, Donald ramsbottom wrote (or rather 
quoted):

> PKI is a set of tools that secure a network by providing each
> user with a digital identity, through a smartcard, which is
> authenticated by a central digital certificate authority.

Close.

PKI does not specify that the identity is stored on a smartcard, and 
indeed, in many implementations, cards are not to be seen.

However, smartcards are a pretty good way of storing them, especially 
if they are combined with some other form of identity such as a 
photograph and signature. This is what will form the basis of Identity 
Cards in quite a lot of places. Both Finland (where I live and deal 
with PKI every day) and Sweden are developing such systems, and I 
believe many more places too.

AF

-- 
Andy Fawcett      |   "In an open world without walls and fences,
andy@athame.co.uk |      we wouldn't need Windows and Gates."
tap@lspace.org    |                              -- anon