[cap-talk] Definition of Authentication on wiki.erights.org

[David-Sarah Hopwood]

Rob Meijer wrote:
> On Sun, September 6, 2009 00:17, Matej Kosik wrote:
>> Do you mean that:
>> - I have some file (e.g. foo.tar.gz)
>> - I know its correct md5sum has
>>   (e.g. 0308e7b8c023f1021702bfe033c392a4)
>> - if I verify (with md5sum program) that
>>   my copy of `foo.tar.gz' has correct hash
>> Then I have performed authentication? In my opinion it is mere
>> verification that given file is the one we want. This case not only does
>> not fall under definition 1 and that is fine.
> 
> I disagree. The validation of the authenticity and integrity properties of
> this object authenticate the object. This example thus shows that your
> definition is flawed.

No, it shows that "authentication" is used with at least two distinct
meanings. But do we want to use the word "authentication" for two different
things, when we have other words (such as "verification") that are clearer
and more applicable to one of them? Note that it is the technical jargon
meaning of "authentication" in computer science that we are attempting to
define, *not* the everyday meaning (or the meaning in some other field
such as the study of antiquities).

-- 
David-Sarah Hopwood  ⚥  http://davidsarah.livejournal.com