Peter Gutmann wrote:
Perhaps someone more familiar with Japanese culture could provide a definite
answer for this, but they seem to fit the definition:
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Chindogu
Chindogu is the not-so-ancient Japanese art of inventing ingenious everyday
gadgets that, on the face of it, seem like an ideal solution to a particular
problem. However, Chindogu has a distinctive feature: anyone actually
attempting to use one of these inventions, would find that it causes so many
new problems, or such significant social embarrassment, that effectively it
has no utility whatsoever. Thus, Chindogu are sometimes described as
'unuseless' - that is, they cannot be regarded as 'useless' in an absolute
sense, since they do actually solve a problem; however, in practical terms,
they cannot positively be called 'useful'.
For the purpose of this discussion, X.509 is Chinese to me (this wording
tells more about its author's ignorance about Asia than anything about
Asian civilizations).
More seriously, the colloquial name "digital signature" for PK-based
data integrity protection seems to fit the above definition.
When envisioned as a digital counterpart for signatures, "digital
signatures" were envisioned for routine transactions. But this
overlooked the most basic property of signatures in general: the first
recommendation you get from a legal adviser is "don't sign anything"
(don't acknowledge any liability). If your net worth is close to zero,
you need to learn this basic fact of life from empirical observations of
wealthier people. Otherwise, you more or less consciously abide by this
liability aversion principle.
However attractive as an ideal solution, "digital signatures" were
deemed to remain a laboratory curiosity (as a non-repudiation mechanism).
Regards,
--
- Thierry Moreau
CONNOTECH Experts-conseils inc.
9130 Place de Montgolfier
Montreal, QC, Canada H2M 2A1
Tel. +1-514-385-5691
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