OFF: Re: Come out, come out, wherever you are!

[Paul Mather]

On Fri, 16 Jul 1999, Christopher Bruce wrote:

=> Well folks, the Signature Certificate has raised its ugly head again! My
=> apologies , again, to you all, but I had forgotten to turn it off the last
=> time I posted to the boc-l list. Sorry! But its going to take some getting
=> used to the ONLY non RFC 822 compliant newsgroup server (LISTSERV) that I've

In what way is it non-RFC 822 compliant?

=> These Certificates are becoming more common every day, so be prepared for
=> someone elses posts and update either your browser or get LISTSERV to stop
=> adding tabs to the headers. (It would save disc space, too, albeit a tiny
=> amount, but it adds up at 40+ boc-l posts a day!)

IMHO, if your signature applies to the body *and* headers of your
outgoing message, then *IT* is broken.  Because a digital signature
explicitly identifies the originator, it is redundant to sign the
headers also---especially in view of the fact that RFCs allow for
mailers freely to rewrite headers, especially gateway mailers (e.g.
going from UUCP-style addresses to canonical FQDNs, etc.).
(Analogously, a notary public does not notarize the envelope in which
you send the notarized document.)

Of course, many mail transport agents are only 7-bit clean, and so
signing (which is fundamentally a bit-oriented hash) for text (with its
many variant EOL encodings, etc.) is on dodgy ground at the best of
times if you want everyone to be able to check its validity...

=> Once more, my profuse apologies, and if anyone is reading this,
=> could you tell the rest its OK to come out of their bomb shelters
=> and read my posts?  :)

I've never had a problem with any of your posts, Chris.  Keep 'em
coming!

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"I don't live today; maybe tomorrow..."
        --- James Marshall Hendrix