On 6/2/04 10:23 AM, Marta Edie at mledie at insightbb.com wrote: > What is digital signing anyway? > Marta
Part II. To ward off your initial question, "How does Thwate know I'm me? Couldn't I just ask for a certificate as Steve Jobs?" You need all your personal information before filling out a cert form. You'll have to enter your social security number, which most people regard as very private. Again, doing this only gets you a "Thwate Freemail Member" cert. The Web of Trust works like this: I copy my drivers license and passport one one piece of paper. I hand that piece of paper to another Thwate member who is able to *verify* that I am me. He or she then prints out a form and I sign it. They then take my info paper and the signed paper and store it in a vault on their premises. Once I have verified myself with enough people, I get a new cert with my name. If I get enough points, I can then verify others. This is done all over the Apple campus, as sending encrypted email to and from Apple employees is a must within certain groups inside Apple. I trust they will keep my information safe, so I have to trust the trusters and they have to trust that I am me when they look at my passport and driver's license and then look at me to confirm. It is in this way the the certificate gets it's power. Schoun | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be June 22. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>. | List posting address: <mailto:macgroup at erdos.math.louisville.edu> | List Web page: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup>
