Friday, July 12, 2002, 12:29:13 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> Kim, I have a question on wildcards from Geotrust. Already was there and >> read all about wildcards two weeks ago. They offer wildcard certs only per >> machine,
> Thawte recently switched to per-subdomain licensing for their wildcard certs. > Comodo and Geotrust are using per-machine (i.e. unlimited subdomains on > one machine) licensing. > So if you have a lot of subdomains on one machine that you want to secure, > Comodo and Geotrust would be more cost effective. On the other hand, if > you have several physical web servers (i.e. www, www2, www3, etc. -- only > one subdomain per machine), the Thawte wildcard cert would be more cost > effective. >> that is: a wildcard cert will only be valid for ONE machine. This > It is *licensed* for one machine (or the number of machines you bought > licenses for). > Prior to the new licensing schemes (and price increases), you could > legally used a Thawte wildcard cert on multiple machines with multiple > subdomains for only $100 a year. Yes, it's all about the bottom line... I question the legal enforceability of such "licensing schemes" since in reality, the CA is not actually selling you a certificate. They are, in effect, simply signing a certificate that was created by the certificate holder, endorsing the validity of the data in the certificate. As to how the certificate is used, the certificate is not the property of the CA, and O would think that they could have no legal say as to its use. There is, of course, nothing in the certificate itself that would prevent its use on multiple machines or IP Addresses, or restricted to a number of "subdomains." I could be wrong, but it would be interesting to get a legal opinion on this. Usage restrictions are really a sign of how stupid and greedy the certificate industry is getting IMO, and I don't exempt any of the CA's from that criticism. -- Best regards, William X Walsh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- OpenSRS installation and customizations Payment Processing Integration Apache Installation and Support Services http://www.wxsoft.com/
