Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!netcom!tomten From: tomten@netcom.UUCP (Greg Broiles) Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk Subject: Re: Digital Signatures and Public Key Cryptography Message-ID: <13077@netcom.UUCP> Date: 2 Sep 90 07:46:48 GMT References: <2998@mindlink.UUCP> Organization: Netcom- The Bay Area's Public Access Unix System {408 241-9760 guest} Lines: 44 In article <2998@mindlink.UUCP> a577@mindlink.UUCP (Curt Sampson) writes: >> jik@athena.mit.edu writes: >> > >> |> It would also >> |> enable people who had signed contracts with me to claim that anything I >> had >> |> allegedly signed might be forged. >> >> Not really, if you say, "I just discovered that my private key was >> accidentally made public on . Anything signed with my key >> on or after that date may not have actually been signed by me. However, I am >> certain that anything signed with me key before that date was definitely done >> by my own hand." > >Not that I pointed this out. My hypothetical case was that of someone who, a >year after the fact, decided to renge on a contract. All of the contracts >during that year could be claimed to be possible forgeries. > Well, the claim could be made, but your behavior would provide a good indicator of your knowledge of the contract, and agreement to it. If you sign a loan agreement and then, after 2 years of payments, announce that you hadn't really signed it, and that you hadn't written those checks, and never noticed the money coming out of your bank account, and hadn't used the check that was issued to purchase a car registered in your name that you parked in your driveway .. and so on. Heck, signatures aren't really "secure" now - I don't think that banks check signatures on checks for less than $500, and people rarely match the signature on a credit card to the one on the slip - neither of which "proves" much, anyway. It seems to be mostly a formality. People can (and do) claim "I never signed that" - and it doesn't seem to create a big problem. People still get loans and buy and sell things, borrow library books, and life goes on. :) > -cjs ( Curt_Sampson@mindlink.UUCP ) -- Greg Broiles tomten@well.sf.ca.us tomten@netcom.uucp 3105 Pine St. greg@agora.hf.intel.com MCIMail: gbroiles Riverside, CA 92501 CI$: 74017,3623 Peacenet: gbroiles "Organized crime is the price we pay for organization." -- Raymond Chandler