[cap-talk] crypto purism vs. Pet Names (was: Firefox breaks theprinciple of identifiability)

[Karp, Alan H]

David Wagner wrote:
> 
> I am not sure whether I'm convinced yet.
> (I'm not sure I'd want to have to type "KPIX's Coca Cola";
> for instance, I might not remember what TV station I saw.
> Also, this doesn't fit the "I saw an ad on a billboard" model 
> too well.)
> But it seems like it is getting closer.
> 
The movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" addresses this point, perhaps
intentionally.  The Coke bottle that hit the aborigine was an
introduction of the form "God's Coca Cola".  By the end of the film, our
protagonist simply referred to "Coca Cola", in effect shortening the
name path and establishing his own pet name.  The same thing happens in
the billboard model.  If I decide the target of the name has value to
me, I'll establish my own binding that's more convenient than the
original.  This choice also reduces my vulnerability to KPIX, which
might change the binding of its "Coca Cola" to "Pepsi".

________________________
Alan Karp
Principal Scientist
Virus Safe Computing Initiative
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
1501 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 857-3967, fax (650) 857-7029
https://ecardfile.com/id/Alan_Karp
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Alan_Karp

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