Re: Mindshare and Java

[Black Unicorn <unicorn@schloss.li>]

On Sun, 28 Apr 1996, Rich Graves wrote:

> On Sun, 28 Apr 1996, Tom Weinstein wrote:
> > Rich Graves wrote:
> > >
> > > Some of the things a valid signature from Jack the Ripper means:
> 
> [True statements deleted]
> 
> > > 3. If I am Jack the Ripper, I have a way of proving that the code is
> > >    my intellectual property.
> > 
> > How do you prove that?  If I strip off your signature and sign it
> > myself, how do you know it's yours?
> 
> Hmm. Very interesting point. You would need to make the signature
> technology at least tamper-evident by embedding it "somehow," and
> recursing infinitely. Yup, sounds pretty impossible, so I'm sure
> somebody's going to come up with an answer. Maybe the one-time signature,
> or signatures authenticated by location.

I have put my 'secret' signature on work product by stegoing little things
into the text.  (A simple example would be if the first letter of each
sentence on each paragraph spelled your name).  I'm sure members of the
list can come up with any number of creative alternatives.

If this is done discretely enough and embedded "deep" enough into the
property, it is pretty reliable.

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