[Freedombox-discuss] Would you sign a key with a pseudonymous keyholder name?

Jonas Smedegaard dr at jones.dk
Sat Jul 21 08:36:13 UTC 2012


On 12-07-20 at 04:42pm, bertagaz at ptitcanardnoir.org wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 10:25:05AM +0200, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
> > On 12-07-19 at 02:09pm, Fifty Four wrote:
> > > So, under what conditions would you give a Level 3 signing to a 
> > > pseudonymous name on a key? I assume a Level 3 signing means Full 
> > > validity?
> > 
> > Policies for keysigning is bound to the communities that use them.  
> > For Debian the purpose of keysigning is to ensure linkage between 
> > digital identity with a physical and legal identity: a passport is a 
> > strong identifier there and pseudonyms are pretty much by definition 
> > going against the very purpose of the aim for keysigning there.
> 
> Well, it's not that easy to assert that passports are strong 
> identifiers.
> 
> It's a misconception that has been spread by the usual keysigning 
> party policy, but that isn't that meaningful IMO.

Please note that I explicitly limited to the _Debian_ community treating 
passports as strong identifier.

If you believe that is wrong, I suggest instead of raising the point 
here that you instead help fix Debian documentation - e.g. file bugs 
against www.debian.org for places like these (some of which existed even 
when I became DD 12 years ago):

http://www.debian.org/devel/join/nm-step1
http://www.debian.org/devel/join/nm-step2
http://www.debian.org/events/keysigning
http://www.debian.org/events/checklist


> You can easily buy some forged one on some markets.

And you can easily buy a gun on some markets and threaten others to 
reveal their private key.

Debian historically trusts government issued identification.  That may 
change in the future, but Debian is not an anti-government organisation, 
so maybe not.

It is perfectly valid and sane and exciting to apply other principles at 
other communities, but saying that Passports are not strong identifiers 
*for* *Debian* is plain wrong.


Regards,

 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

 [x] quote me freely  [ ] ask before reusing  [ ] keep private
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 836 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/freedombox-discuss/attachments/20120721/b426f5fd/attachment.pgp>


More information about the Freedombox-discuss mailing list