[JaxPM] My PGP Key

[j proctor]

On the jacksonville-pm-list; Jax.PM'er j proctor <jproctor at oit.umass.edu> wrote -


> Someone has been transversing the Internet acting like me
> in various capacities - downloading software, signing up
> for lists, giving out my personal and professional contact 
> information and what not.  Therefore I have found it 
> necessary to incorporate more security into my various
> on-line activities.  Sorry for the trouble this may
> cause you in the long run, but I must protect my interests.

The obvious response, considering my own laziness regarding verification
of the key and its provenance against a recognized certificate authority,
is to ask with a smirk how we know it's really you who sent us the key?
The *real* Sneex could be on vacation this weekend, and not see the
impostor on the list until next week. 

And having just spent several hours discussing the various shortcomings of
modern host and network security methods, and in light of a suspicion of
attempted identity theft, is there any way we can ever really tell the
difference?  Similarly, can I trust that Verisign (or whoever issued the
certificate) would be able to detect an impostor?

It's elephants all the way down!


j


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