Re: kernel.org status: establishing a PGP web of trust

[Geert Uytterhoeven]

On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 16:36, <Valdis.Kletnieks@xxxxxx> wrote:
> However, you have to remember that *all* real-life identity proofs are to
> some degree probabalistic. ÂHow do you know your lawyer is a *real* lawyer
> and not somebody with a fake degree? ÂMostly because the other lawers
> in town and the judges are convinced he's a lawyer too. ÂSame goes for
> your doctor - how do you know he *really* went to med school? ÂEven calling
> the med school and verifying only proves that somebody with that name went
> there that year. ÂAnd yes, every year we hear about a few fake lawyers and
> doctors on the news. ÂBut society seems to muddle along just fine anyhow.

In real life, it's also called the web of trust. How do you prove to a foreign
government that you're (a) not a convicted criminal and (b) in a healthy state?
  - You ask your doctor to write a signed declaration,
  - You go to the ministry of healthcare, which checks the signature
and registration
    number of the doctor, and adds a signature and stamp to the document,
  - You go to the police station, to get a good standing certificate, signed by
    the mayor,
  - You go to the ministry of foreign affairs, which checks the
signatures and stamps
    of the ministry of healthcare officer and of the mayor, and adds
an apostille
    to your documents,
  - The foreign government verifies the apostille from your ministry of foreign
    affairs.

Very similar to PGP ;-)

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

            Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
             Â Â -- Linus Torvalds
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