Re: Endorsements (was Re: GPL compatibility of DFCL)
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On 17 Jun 2002, Henning Makholm wrote:
>Scripsit John Galt <galt@inconnu.isu.edu>
>
>> True enough, but what if they were legally binding electronic signatures?
>> Let someone try to attach a signature where it wasn't supposed to be and
>> watch them go to jail PDQ....
>
>No, the point about electronic signatures is that the only one who
>*can* apply them to anything is the one who is in possession of the
>secret key.
>
>Let someone try to attach a signature where it wasn't supposed to be,
>and watch them fail.
Oh, you mean that the price of forgery is both failure AND jail? Whatever
shall we do?! My point is if you make endorsements legaslly
binding cryptographic signatures, then the endorsement CANNOT be attached
by anyone other than the endorser. Furthermore, since they're doing
nothing but attesting the veracity of the work, they're not in any way
shape or form preventing copying or modification. The only thing is that
if the checksum changes, one would logically need to re-sign the work in
order for the signature to remain valid, and modification of a signature
in order for it to imply signing something that the signer didn't sign is
VERY illegal. That is, we'd have exactly what the endorsements page was
designed for--the following people attest that this copy is a true copy.
- --
Customer: "I'm running Windows '98" Tech: "Yes." Customer:
"My computer isn't working now." Tech: "Yes, you said that."
Who is John Galt? galt@inconnu.isu.edu, that's who!
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