Re: A brief comparison of email encryption protocols

[Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>]

Carl Ellison wrote:

| At 15:54 2/29/96, Derek Atkins wrote:
| 
| >So, there needs to be a compromise, some shorthand method to describe
| >the hint.  One solution is to provide a "keyserver" type and then some
| >string that says which "keyserver" to use.  For example, if there is a
| >DNS-style keyserver deplyed, I could put '1,"mit.edu"' in all my
| >signatures, if we assume that '1' is the DNS-style keyserver code.

| is a URL just too big?  My sigs are already several lines long.  E.g.,
| 
| Key: ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/cme/cme.asc

I think a URL is probably a good solution.  But if we're using 
URLs, lets create a scheme for public keys.  If needed, this could be
either abbriviated, or dereferenced with a key exchanger (similar to
SMTP's mail exchangers).  Defaults would also allow for a good deal of
shortening.  And URLs have the user interface advantage of becoming
common, and understood.  Who gets on the net today and not the web?


key://ftp.clark.net/pub/u/cme/cme-current.asc
key://ftp.clark.net/pub/u/cme/cme-longterm.asc

or 
key://gateway.acme.net/pub/s/telnetd.asc

abrieviated version:

key://acme.com/~telnetd/

-- 
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
					               -Hume