[hashcash] Re: Opportunistic signatures - a proposed design

  • From: Atom 'Smasher' <atom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: hashcash@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 22:49:09 -0400 (EDT)

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004, Jonathan Morton wrote:

What the bank really wants is not a signature, but a certificate, at least by my terminology.
=========

i'll go with that.


And this is why the PGP folks have their heads up their arses, to use a colloquialism. There are so many other gaps in the system that there really is no point in forcing people who don't actually need it to use a "perfect" but hugely overcomplex system.

To abuse an analogy, this is like an airliner with a dodgy engine, a drunk First Officer, cracks in the rudder, and a malfunctioning starboard aileron, returning to the gate... because there weren't enough "refreshing towelettes".
===========

if one is using pgp on windoze, then i agree with that analogy.

i would also agree that pgp signatures, with 1024+ bit keys is complete and total overkill *if* it's being used an an anti-spam measure... but if it's being used for other reasons, and it just so happens to be useful in bypassing a spam filter, then that's a different story. i think that conventional asymmetric keys in the 256-512 bit range would be adequate for the purpose of automatically signing an email, *if* the intended purpose is to bypass a filter, *not* to prove authorship. HOWEVER, the more i think about that type of system, the more i like hashcash better.


...atom

 _________________________________________
 PGP key - http://atom.smasher.org/pgp.txt
 762A 3B98 A3C3 96C9 C6B7 582A B88D 52E4 D9F5 7808
 -------------------------------------------------

        "Unthinking respect for authority
         is the greatest enemy of truth."
                -- Albert Einstein
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.3.6 (FreeBSD)
Comment: What is this gibberish?
Comment: http://atom.smasher.org/links/#digital_signatures

iQEcBAEBCAAGBQJBMpWqAAoJEAx/d+cTpVcickYIAKCmQizjoY5NMznM8ZCIpzqT
QW+IbwDPYR0eZTeiRdUf1L9C0oENKFNeEOSmoeNfo4yhPptdMjGu3/3Fvt3Mp7gK
iv0j+ztf/LICnSxzdJZKUJZTqlfv5Akydr85zsoKTHj/uLF7SJq56qRR9AKER0Vc
nWoIuE8hBvUi6XHUzzfunGS+hliBmLlQ1z8pKZu61jl9ZRKJrpz1181wiLtDzXdb
lGE2/wVtZ8gWyedSftnXobx2HLCjE0MKsqeNM/5yvgd4XDnN5C9Q+MyYZlaapPJL
igV4JVDDaRYGUgTfv6tNnAGf3l/5ofuCyCoaLJ8EoaZ8PP+iYc8vs7QdZ1XDEcQ=
=lUgB
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Other related posts: