Virtual Keysignings

[Adrian 'Dagurashibanipal' von Bidder]

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On Thursday 05 June 2003 16:33, Daniel Luebke wrote:
> Hi Everybody!
>
> I have a question about keysigning: What do you think of signing a
> person (or having a keysigning party) which is conducted through a video
> link?
> On the one hand it would be a great opportunity to establish trust (you
> can show your passport into the camera, the picture must match the
> person), on the other hand you're doing this through an untrusted medium
> (internet- or telefon-line-link) which you could indicate through the
> sig-class?
> What are your opinions about this topic?

In my opionion, it is not really a question of the medium you use. If I kno=
w a=20
person, I'd not hesitate to sign a key even only speaking on the phone, or=
=20
from a faxed request when I have enough circumstancial evidence that it's t=
he=20
real person (is it somebody who would ask me to sing his key, voice of=20
course, handwriting, ...).=20

When I do not know a person at all, I guess I'd hesitate before signing a k=
ey=20
only based on a video link. But if, for instance, the person is known to=20
somebody at the other end who recommended me to him, the situation is=20
different again. It really comes down to: do you feel reasonably sure that=
=20
the other person is who it is? Which is something nobody else can answer fo=
r=20
you.

To help others assess the quality of your signatures, you can use a policy =
URL=20
(something like I do, perhaps, if you look at my signature - dunno if your=
=20
mailer displays the URL) or a Notation, to include some data about the=20
circumstances of the signing with the signature.

greetings
=2D- vbi

=2D-=20
Available for key signing in Z=FCrich and Basel, Switzerland
                     (what's this? Look at http://fortytwo.ch/gpg/intro)

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Signature policy: http://fortytwo.ch/legal/gpg/email.20020822?version=1.4&md5sum=81630baabe9a0670bb19c1fa8527a7ab

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