[Freedombox-discuss] Establishing Communication between Freedomboxes

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

On 07/07/2011 12:43 PM, ian at churchkey.org wrote:
> If the Dynamic DNS based
> public directory I proposed is particularly troubling to you, perhaps we
> could focus on how that is different from DNS itself, the gpg
> keyservers

OpenPGP keyservers have no authority in and of themselves; the
information they publish is self-certifying.  The only potential attack
a keyserver operator could be complicit in is to withhold valid
information.  Most critically, the keyserver operator has no way of
publishing invalid information that would be accepted by any client
doing reasonable due diligence.

Due to the distributed/gossip-y nature of the OpenPGP keyserver syncs
(read the SKS documentation for details), one way to avoid the concern
that a malicious keyserver operator is withholding valid information is
to query a set of keyservers (presumably each under different
administrative control).

> or even the Debian mirror system.

The debian mirror system represents a solution to an entirely different
problem space.  The debian mirrors are responsible for distributing a
set of information that emanates from a central authority -- the debian
archive.  End users of the mirrors can verify the correctness and
up-to-date-ness of distributed data by timestamped signatures that are
distributed alongside the data itself.

We're talking about (ideally) a massively de-centralized scheme where
people (and their acquaintances) can identify themselves; it's not
debian's job to identify all of its users.

> If there are problematic
> differences, maybe we can mitigate them technically, perhaps by
> implementing signed updates like the keyservers, or at least use the
> discussion to move towards a preferable architecture.

OpenPGP keyservers do not issue signed updates.  In fact, the most
common OpenPGP keyserver in use today (SKS) does not even know how to
verify or create asymmetric signatures.  Perhaps you meant something else?

	--dkg

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