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bluesky - RE: Naming via SDSI

bluesky AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Global-Scale Distributed Storage Systems

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  • From: "Lucas Gonze" <lucas AT worldos.com>
  • To: "Global-Scale Distributed Storage Systems" <bluesky AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Naming via SDSI
  • Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 13:29:34 -0500


Hal said:
> You need either a friendly (user-readable) name for the namespace
> provider, in which case more than one entity could claim to have that
> name, or you need a cryptographically secure name, which will be long.

I think this boils down to the same insight embodied in webs of trust or SPKI,
which is that trust originates at the self. An individual has to make a leap
of
faith based on the best data they can gather, but from then trusted parties
can
certify new trusted parties.

The bootstrap step you are referring to doesn't have to happen frequently.
Let's say there would be a default namespace provider whose function is to map
friendly names for namespace providers to hashes. This default namespace
provider could be your ISP. On some level you would have to deal with the
hash
during setup, just like you have to deal with IP settings for a new ISP
account.

Bootstrap the entire process by getting a public key for your default
namespace
provider. Verify this in the usual ways, e.g. by looking at the signature in
a
magazine ad, by calling them on the phone, etc. You can have about as much
faith in this as you do in the setup data that your ISP provides.

The difference between this and DNS is that trust radiates outward from users,
rather than inward from the Root Server in Reston.

- Lucas





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