On Fri, Jan 30, 2009 at 10:19 PM, Michael Adkins <[email protected]> wrote: > This article uses the term 'identifier' without offering a definition. It > seems to use 'identifier' to mean the same thing as 'identity', and both > those words only refer to the names of things, not actual things. Actual > things are referred to as 'principals'. I suppose that could be clearer > since two words that sounds similar are referring to the same concept, but I > don't know whether 'principal' is intuitive enough or not.
A few concepts which seem to be drawn from other fields of study I guess? Identifier is a pointer to an identity is how I understood it. Identifier = "Something that identifies or names". Programming concept, that .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identifier Identity = "An identity is an equality that remains true regardless of the values of any variables that appear within it" from math - what they denote by a triple bar (≡) rather than the double bar equal to sign (=). An identity might have several identifiers mapping to it, I dare say? Principal is a legal concept - someone who authorises an agent to act on his behalf to create a legal relationship with a third party. I can see where a client who commissions an ESP to send email on their behalf would be the principal. And the agent / executor would be the d= responsible for actually sending out the email. --srs _______________________________________________ NOTE WELL: This list operates according to http://mipassoc.org/dkim/ietf-list-rules.html
