[cap-talk] mailkey: transfer of accountability

[Karp, Alan H]

David Hopwood wrote:
> 
> I think the simplest way to resolve this is for you to restate your
> argument using the usual convention -- otherwise we're going 
> to get into
> horrible difficulties comparing with the Horton paper.
> 
Alice has a reference to Bob and one to Carol.  Alice would like Bob to
have a reference to Carol so that Carol will be able to distinguish
requests from Bob from those from Alice.  Alice asks Carol to set up an
introducer mailbox key for Bob to use, and Alice forwards it to Bob.
Bob sets up a mailbox key for Carol to use and sends an email to the
introducer key asking Carol for a new mailbox key that is not known to
Alice.

In mailkey, Bob knows from the email address and domain name that the
introducer key is Carol's and not Alice's.  In Horton, Bob's request for
the stub at Carol must go through Alice, which makes Horton more
complicated.

________________________
Alan Karp
Principal Scientist
Virus Safe Computing Initiative
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
1501 Page Mill Road
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