IP: time to get real

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

It is interesting how people wave off "clever" use of email as a "harmless
diversion. For over 20 years we have been using email as a vital but
"flaky" part of our personal and business world. Some 15 years ago I and
others developed a secure mail system that attacked the problem but it fell
into disuse since no one thought it was a  serious issue and besides it was
too difficult to create and manage a certificate system to identify users etc.
&d dollars spent to study and create tools for that environment. (BTW
Singapore is in the process of doing this for ecommerce for all citizens)


Some 20 years ago I suggested that the problem would get fixed when some
joker sent out a forged message in the name of the Darpa Director some
Friday evening calling for a emergency meeting of all PIs in DC the
following Monday am. The chaos and waste of time (plus the annoyance of
those who show up) would have raised the understanding of the importance of
email and the need for the application of digital signatures as a normal
part of the process of emailing. (please note I DO NOT recommend anyone try
the above ploy, it might end you in jail)
.
Time to get a moving and get real


Dave










Date: 13 Jul 1997 02:46:57 -0000
From: Russell Nelson <nelson () crynwr com>


David Farber writes:
> From: "Robert A. Mitchiner" <bobbym () arkansas net>
> Subject: Domain names
>
> Microsoft has taken some interesting domain names. These have been
> verified with the Internic: 
> *    BILL-IS-LORD.COM
> *    RESISTANCE-IS-FUTILE.COM
> *    WESHALLPREVAIL.COM.


They were a ruse, registered with forged email.  A clever prank, but
just a prank.



-- 
-russ <nelson () crynwr com>    http://www.crynwr.com/~nelson
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