Tim Greer
Guest
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 Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 5:55 am Post subject: Re: GPG |
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Anne & Lynn Wheeler wrote:
| Quote: | this is a different "semantic confusion" issue ..
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I must have missed that post. No matter. Like I said, I am not
interested in the discussion. I'm sure the other poster gets what
you're saying.
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Nico Kadel-Garcia
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:38 am Post subject: Re: GPG |
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Tim Greer wrote:
| Quote: | Anne & Lynn Wheeler wrote:
this is a different "semantic confusion" issue ..
I must have missed that post. No matter. Like I said, I am not
interested in the discussion. I'm sure the other poster gets what
you're saying.
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You didn't miss it. Here is what she said originaloly:
| Quote: | "asymmetric cryptography" is technology where there are a pair of keys
... what one key encodes, the other key decodes. this is in contrast to
symmetric key technology where the same key is used to both encode &
decode.
"public key" is a business process is where one of the key pair is
designated "public" and is freely published. the other key is kept
private & confidential and never divulged.
"public key" business process can be used to address the key
distribution problem in symmetric key infrastructures. it also addresses
problem of repositories of symmetric keys which may become compromised
(it isn't necessary to keep "public keys" confidential in the way that
"symmetric keys" are required to be kept confidential).
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You see where 'asymmetric cryptography' is described, then 'public key', is
described as a business process. From the wording, paragraph 2 really looks
like it describes 'public key [cryptography]' as a business process. Public
key *management* is a business process, sure, but the distinctioin between the
technologies and the practices is getting smeared.
Now, I've been hearing and seeing 'public key' for years to refer to the
technology itself. If Lynn cares to use 'public key' to refer to the business
process, and not the technology, she's welcome to do so, but it's like using
the word 'Scotch' to refer only to 'tape', especially when the conversatoin
starts out about liquor. It's confusing. And if I go look at Wikipedia for
commentary from other astute people, I see 'public key cryptography' as simply
another description of 'asymmetric cryptography', so my confusion about her
phrasing seems, well, pretty natural to me. |
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