Re: Identification step in the current scheme
I've just read through the archive, and I thought I'd toss in my
two cents.
I'm currently in the NM queue. I already have a GPG key in the
MIT keyserver and a scanned copy of the photograph page of my
passport (I scanned it right after I applied, because I thought I
might need it right away).
The application guidelines aren't at all clear about what is done
with the image. My impression was that the image would be used to
help verify my identity to a Debian developer who the NM team put
me in contact with and then discarded. That is, a copy of the
image file would be supplied to a developer in my area who would
meet with me; that developer could check the image against my real
passport, and then sign my key. I was *not* under the impression
that a permanent copy of my signed passport image would be stored
by Debian on a long-term basis, and I don't approve of such a plan.
Furthermore, I don't see how having a signed image on file helps
Debian, and it clearly opens the door for potential abuses
(identity theft).
I apparently overlooked the telephone option for ``eye-ball''
verification. I don't know about you, but I'm sure I could fake
up some ID and find a friend who would be willing to vouch that I
was whoever I said I was. Unless the person confirming my
identity was already known and trusted by the Debian Project, his
testimony is worthless. If the person doing the verification was
a Debian developer, they could sign my key.
As far as I can see, the only meaningful way of verifying my
identity and goodwill has to come from meeting other Debian
developers in person, where they can get a sense of who I am and
what I believe in from talking with me. Unfortunately, even
living in a fairly large metropolitan area, I have no easy,
guaranteed means of contacting local Debian developers.
Rather than collecting photo-IDs that can't be validated without
signed keys anyway, I think it would more useful for the Project
to develop some method of facilitating contact between existing
Debian developers who are willing to sign keys and prospective
maintainers (or other members). As far as I can tell, the obvious
ways to get your key signed by a Debian developer are
1. Attend a large Linux event, such as LinuxTag, OLS, and so
forth, where Debian has a booth
2. Attend a smaller event (such as a local Linux User's Group
meeting) and hope to run into someone who somehow gives away
the fact that they're a Debian developer
3. Post a message to debian-devel asking to meet people in a
specified city or region
4. Find someone on #debian on IRC who is nearby
The problem with all four of these options is that all of the
burden is placed on the keyseeker. If you want your key signed,
you have to make it to a large meeting, get lucky and find someone
at your local LUG, spam hundreds of developers, or keep announcing
your geographic location and desire for having your key signed on
IRC.
The keyswapping process would be much easier if it were possible
for keysigners to make their willingness to sign keys known to
keyseekers. Here are four possible scenarios, and some
suggestions for how they could be handled:
1. Developer Xander works in downtown Vancouver, and states
that he's willing to meet people for lunch and exchange keys
at a given restaurant every Wednesday at 1 PM.
2. NM applicant Yvonne is planning a trip to Seattle on
September 9, and wonders if there are any developers who
could sign her key.
3. Developer Zachary is planning a trip to Chicago, and is
willing to sign keys for people he can meet with while he's
there.
4. The Miami Linux Users Group has a regularly scheduled
keyswapping party every month.
Scenarios 1 and 2 (but not 3 and 4) could be satisfied by
modifying the interface to the Debian developer database. As it
stands, you can get a list of all the developers in your country,
but most countries are far too large for a countrywide list to
guarantee that anyone on the list will be anywhere near where you
are or are planning to be. Even being able to search at the level
of states or provinces wouldn't be much help. But if you could
search by city, you'd have a much smaller list of candidates. And
if you could further limit your search for people in a given city
who were also willing to meet to swap keys, you'd be set.
[Note: I wasn't able to find any documentation explaining why the
developer database works the way it does. I'm assuming that there
are privacy reasons for not making city-level searches available
for everyone, but I think that with an ``opt-in'' approach for
people willing to sign keys, such searches might be acceptable.]
Another alternative would be to build a separate system to track
willing keysigners and eager keyseekers. Such a system could also
support scenarios 3 and 4.
Either alternative would make it easier to satisfy the keysigning
requirement, and eliminate the need for collecting images of
photo-IDs.
CMC
P.S. If the Project merely wants a photograph to display somewhere
(an idea that is, itself, questionable), I certainly wouldn't want
that photograph to come from some official piece of ID. Identity
theft aside, ID photos are almost universally horrible....
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Behind the counter a boy with a shaven head stared vacantly into space,
a dozen spikes of microsoft protruding from the socket behind his ear.
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
C.M. Connelly c@eskimo.com SHC, DS
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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