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Re: [OCLUG-Tech] CACert - free digital certificates

On Fri, Jun 03, 2005 at 11:08:47AM -0400, Bill Strosberg wrote:

> My position is that the on-line client-server trust model is
> broken - and anyone participating (CACert included) is part of a
> broken system.
[...]
> CACert's verification process is probably worse than the commercial
> efforts of Entrust et al - they apply to people only, and corporate
> bodies are not verifiable.

Well, with any luck, if enough people give out certs with minimal
verification and at a very low price, the market will become worthless
and customers will find something else instead.

Perhaps another set of root certs with more going for them.  Perhaps
small community-run CAs.  Perhaps asking their banks (in person) for
X.509 checksum fingerprints and adding their keys to a personal
  keyring, PGP style.

The nice thing about SSL as a technology is, like DNS, there's the
established roots, and then there's the ability to make your own.
Personally, I run my own CA for various purposes, including VPN node
interverification.

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