[cap-talk] A petname toolbar for Firefox

[Karp, Alan H]

Tyler Close wrote:
> > For example, what about the issue of name collision.  I 
> noticed that I 
> > can assign the Petname "IBM" for https://www.ibm.com/ and 
> then it will 
> > happily (without notice) let me assign that same Petname "IBM" to 
> > https://www.wellsfargo.com/.
> 
> I consider this a feature, not a bug. Remember, we are characterizing 
> the trust relationship, not the identity of the website. For 
> example, I 
> believe Microsoft owns Expedia. You might rationally decide to give 
> both websites the same petname, using the logic that you shouldn't 
> trust either website any more than the other since it's the same 
> ownership behind both websites.
> 
"Gee.  I thought I already set a petname for PayPal.  I guess I forgot
or maybe something got screwed up in the system.  I guess I'll just
assign it again."  

If that's what I do when visiting paypa1.com, then I've been phished.
On the other hand, if I see a list of sites associated with the petname
paypal, I might take a closer look at the URL before associating a
petname with it.

________________________
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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