Re: Mainstreaming PGP on Usenet

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

ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes:
> Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
...
> > 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 articl
> > 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?
>
> We see no problem with user posting under pseudonyms, as long as they do
> not try to pretend to be other real people and do not constantly mutate,
> and submit their messages to the robomoderator for consideration.

On the contrary, I was thinking of a situation when a person is posting through
an anonymous remailer, yet wishes to establish a persistent nym that can't be
impersonated. E.g., someone may submit articles via remailers (different every
time) and have a signature 'Alice D. N.'; what's to prevent someone else from
submitting an article and also signing it 'Alice D. N.'?

I was thinking of allowing the user to add a 'From: <nym>' in the first
paragraph of the PGP-signed block. To establish the nym, Alice would first
post her public key under the name of Alice; then she would post things like

From: remailer@somewhere

-- begin pgp signed msg

From: Alice

...

This would also address the problem of someone's misconfigured system where
his submissions appear to come from moron@camelot.ptu.edu or
moron@pendragon.ptu.edu or some other random hostname.

P.S. So, when are you setting up your own mixmaster remailer, Igor? :-)

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<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