Klarinet Archive - Posting 000190.txt from 2006/03

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] attached files
Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 19:42:47 -0500

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Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Ormondtoby Montoya wrote:
> This is off-topic, but what is the purpose of a digital signature? Is
> it more than just a different way of automatically including an extra
> line of text at the end of each email?

It's a method of identity confirmation. Basically it says, "This email
could only have been sent by someone who knows the secret key which lets
you make this particular signature."

At the very least, it means that if you see the same digital signature
on two different messages, the chances are they both came from the same
person. More generally you can use them to build up what's called a
"web of trust" whereby people use their own signatures to attest to the
validity of signatures of people they know, and so without having any
centralised authority, you can still build up a system where an identity
can have some meaningful validity.

In addition to that, when you get an email signed by me, you can use it
to download a copy of my "public key". This lets you encrypt emails so
that only the person with the corresponding secret key (i.e. me) can
read them.

However, if you do go into this, remember to back up properly. Just
after starting to use digital signature encryption I had a computer
crash and lost my first secret key. As a result there are a couple of
messages in my email outbox, which I wrote and sent, which I can't read
any more! Fortunately none of them were important.

Here's what one of those now-incomprehensible messages looks like:

> -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
> Charset: UTF-8
> Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
> Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
>
> hQQOA8ytZPEqKQQ0EBAApOgt/LazsSs9ac6zYvtXTXum2k0q4NIp/dEJc0r7NkKt
> DPp5djiM4CvXscFCSwCh1tfegeJosqaaNVNOgAnE21k7fPO8AtGWDIRCoPE7H1y3
> MavHQ/7DocJ4s86CDInLz6sgBu209aIic/LnGmrnqVgTJQEW3q7SEto0yiAUMcV5
> 7S9fqb2q70v+wrIAx9LtBZ8QsSIZN88PdS1reTveOw034lYtE5mFPBFRcZm/63eJ
> NQLU3gGuzNcdP/NoMGFkiAT3X+OMVD3b80OmEEW6T8KRolHQRYV4ljh2KERd7dUV
> orbODxxK7e0rTu8F2qpw7vG/xEgb+1eMi1geK0KaXyWq+aQ6+zrpB8cJe0fi6erw
> /3mTv5HoEDfvilXK66VBd2QhAvFTOcJ+eQkQm0wRowngcqRw+G1Qc00h3alnbZKE
> nLj4NfqZXyWAwb75CUGoUDedWxu592yvt/tpoPHLztbrNev0T77LzeagibbOelJW
> I4F16tMPSaDEjRdGjcLg98GypyldpwVhq7B49dBaX0ydyNggCZZe6DSvdk5lrjTR
> /Wnfb1M3/z35C70T+/zOUupRo3buyJ7IXkDSoVaY5ycmj1Cg0WiZvWB/DESxN3WV
> KW7hHf6vD5Eoh/Sw/Ze5mTgDwP1FgBCKibYw9Jpxie0JeDFxgTCYa2lXn4FtfKIP
> /iSgWQcCtx0FM+SNQDG2yMCeL/6R72E4MXLictxcx10GDvNzZz+8sYxqBcV4Mc6o
> +WPA46iQm56Cx257bI8xayQHNDKy5gSxTFKkfG1HKI2K2Ba+SbBNoOL9HX9Ghnxg
> Zg0UEAfK7NYjp9HvW+EE8kiFoO6ayO/p5y4zx3iCEu/R6oqvIzBgN0Qcw2rMrWGG
> yyism5qVUiZk2g4pNs1cdBRTN7tMpm3q3uTQKIX30YNiiohsTX0DEt5LwYecLGxL
> D9tunyhW1EXQD/7c0oAtQit2nI4kcO4jQbSLW8u+QOV5xYEQ/kzfZj8q6pwnI3Qa
> +meKoFcpa7dQl7RbyuYMzeuN5FN9cHovbCkf5XQt7xzLAkE/FKA2rarujjGR1d90
> tfj0Zz+wsZL8p9pyRxu52wJSoJskhNTa10hbv2/wGEO4KGSvo62jzn/D5s/RhZUY
> gXgcUvVLEw3xjOBZdc7VU4Qs7geF2gAxPd7gtimsMTkUo3UUDzgOyL88yzXSp0TM
> hi950aLWInkd/1rn2ZqxJXcUnTyZQb0/DxsY+d/1WpiNU1MFKv7G3t1yRT12M8vt
> FdIct6v1xE30Smx4jgxEqLLPq31YPCEPv7osXbZ03m5RvNEQU4OceBsONzIzwIsW
> iLFycegsAvlTBk6UzHscC2zzgKunS8Wflx0s1+u9MfPmhQIOAy/Bd2xV/+1qEAf+
> JKHsAcVy52oWvHQuYlUwkOjEkx/KGO3noQYRELzjkdmJsE4bSXy07HYT+k4n008X
> cjlQD7hOv5kd8nwABXnfWjbT1xRmENm10Yqy5yt4+XT/3d0aafzm/edMCn7cV7zP
> oiAunO704lH8G4fQuAAFapeXbfY9LXd66kMP2444oAOo5/VaPT53dpZJhO6NW47F
> 0R9eu4VcsvbKYZv7no4cKNfhIuH94lTo7b5Ye3d4f2xy+Nb/qLiDk/6fmwvSyUr0
> tZ6Ts5XazL0wWVzbRPlYE/IbPGdHqlOxrKgB0N+sI/kWHqNQCkKkHX+aS2whdJfp
> lmieESm8DXFN4+9wAMIXfwf/aBXwZjvFjZDUNIIZL0boEDVGQ3wXbjX6vy3x2FfM
> JQPuHClf6N/qYi9Y5ID9gfXbcyLcChZgZl0xc27hMTMESDLcsH1QpelVerOe/Mek
> Ot140jlqFDFp0pO4Na7ziF7Ro+ECLjQHdIwRhrOfILAOBR7InPNV52C/07i/u5hQ
> Y7oAKEtepyVzvQ/s0tTW0J1xQcXJH8wVw0g7+SVplVn5Vap1ALj1Ks1oCx/CQ2zI
> vUbIOFjtuRynkUhJtIUh6rbEeHp2rOflCb1oiHtzAa3bOgqOdjyLjNnWp/QYsJsI
> 3rfeEodpf1rdyc/XE7lgKcLcQE+16QhDoGaxVisq+WBQjNLAsAGPyeTBhM9MUnhe
> r6UahZOQraqq0Om/89P+54A2nA7PHQ5BkgB6wO/Tu5yZlKwr1LOgyQAttEoi2MTY
> cRsttvHb38zWGg6aN2x9TkcyVCFcH/B7tB/haVFw8/+2lM0UsLQgWupaZpnrZ7hd
> 5brOJd6VJiX0AiZwyvA4aaiVZGJh0D5lKnh+cAIX47jgTcEpNWhzrEkvgKKcUHNN
> KIHl47fpoqkmwQUCcjb4ctgbm54wFGcLNf4QjsXtYRJ5uB6HfDRC3Tvx3zHbPUnE
> t1jbSBZrFcKMkBjoeE4X8l8bS/2XxPB7vjukbr70xPOhZmVMo8G6u8f48eNJgCyu
> ujHC9D5FxQ+nRvxHW5F05zsWQn+3F2Kn4C1NO+fbiDvcA5PyHImZbfaEoO2hoLxm
> YVOxJyZKNqWP+i2eaM67/jz2kH/uF8lm++6KvhofjWNHKAJPVrMjdQf6iFVtytJD
> DQphLfbbTXd+zy/VwZMQF/nZX36v
> =3DwrnF
> -----END PGP MESSAGE-----

If you can decode it, do let me know. :-)

--------------enig92E27E7A07311B28E9BAFF9A
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"
Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFEEMsQcjylL0sfzuERAhdgAJ4vRPuHD8p6Dr9SuQII0xObyOWb7gCfSO0T
dW5G9PBQTmcKKIYYq4p4yM0=
=KK60
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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