Proving that you're not a nym [was Re: Mindshare and Java]

[Rich Graves <llurch@networking.stanford.edu>]

On Sun, 28 Apr 1996, Moltar Ramone wrote:

> > 4. If I'm not Jack the Ripper, I can say "That wasn't me."
> 
> Aaaah... you can say it, but there's no way to prove it...
> 
> anyone can still be anyone without persistent ID of some sort.
> 
> some people would want this to be your True Name.
> 
> (I'm not agreeing with this... but you can't prove you're _not_ a Nym.
> Jim Bell has claimed (well, implied that he believes, although he hasn't
> outright claimed) that I'm L.D. and/or Black Unicorn.
> 
> There's no way I can prove I'm not one of them without demonstrating who
> they are. Which I can't do just by signing Java code...

Yes, of course there's the caveat "without demonstrating who they are."
I am stupid, but not THAT stupid.

Though on second thought... you can, through the web of trust. If a
mutually trusted signator who has signed keys for both A and B solemnly
swears that they are different people, then that should be sufficent proof
for me. I am under no illusion that PGP signatures are exclusive as to
identity, but if a mutually trusted signator made such a statement in
addition to signing the keys, I would accept it.

In this specific case, no, there is nothing you can do to prove that
you're not the Unicorn of Color, because there are no signatures on his or
her key.

In addition, in some sense, the different nyms of one person ARE different
people. They can certainly have different reputations. A signature from
0xCCE7B49D, rich@c2.org, means something different than a signature from
0x189D1595, win-request@metrics.com, the moderator of
comp.os.ms-windows.announce, which at the moment is me.

If I get code signed by "Bill Gates, speaking for Microsoft," I may treat
it differently than code signed by "Bill Gates, not speaking for his
employer."

-rich