key distribution/verification/update mechanisms other than keyservers [was: Re: a step in the right direction]

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

On Tue 2018-01-16 22:56:58 +0100, Kristian Fiskerstrand wrote:
> thanks for this post Daniel, my primary question would be what advantage
> is gained by this verification being done by an arbitrary third party
> rather by a trusted client running locally, which is the current modus
> operandus. Any keyserver action doing this would just shift
> responsibilities to a third party for something better served (and
> already happens) locally.

the advantage is spam-abatement -- the keyservers have to keep track of
what is attached to each blob they transport/persist.  if all signatures
that they transport for a given blob are cryptographically certified,
then only the original uploader of that blob can make assertions about
it; other people can't spam the blob to make it untransportable.

    --dkg