Re: Mainstreaming PGP on Usenet

[dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr. Dimitri Vulis)]

Bruce Baugh <bruce@aracnet.com> writes:

> I'm surprised nobody has brought this up before....
>
>                      FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2)
>             moderated group soc.culture.russian.moderated
>
> <snip>
>
> 6. Individuals in the database of known readers may post freely to
> the group, subject to the conditions in sections 1-4 above.  If need
> arises, the robomoderator may perform PGP verification of the
> identity of the known reader and, if the reader requests so,
> automatically reject all the submissions from the reader without
> a valid PGP signature.

Igor Chudov, who coded the robomoderator, reads Cypherpunks, and
is known to appreciate and use good suggestions.

One issue that hasn't been addressed by the s.c.r.m robomod is the
possibility of persistent nyms: that is, Alice D. Nonymous somehow makes
her public key known to the robomod; and later if someone submits an article
via some anon remailer claiming to be hers, it would be rejected if the
signature doesn't check. Of course, her true submissions would be accepted
from any remailer. How could such protocol be implemented?

(Of course, some people have what they believe to be valid reasons not
to use PGP.)

---

<a href="mailto:dlv@bwalk.dm.com">Dr. Dimitri Vulis</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps