Re: Global PKI on DNS?

[Stephen Kent <kent at bbn.com>]

At 10:42 PM -0700 6/12/02, Einar Stefferud wrote:
> May I suggest that someone do a little work on proving the trust is 
> transitive, as that is what this is really all about, and if it 
> turns out that trust in not transitive, then what was the point?
>
> Maybe if you ask Google about trust transitivity, you all might 
> learn something;-)...
>
> Cheers..Stef
>
> PS:  I trimmed the address list to just IETF;-)...\s

Stef,

Trust generally is not transitive, but cert chains are not about 
transitive trust. The DNS is a hierarchy with clear lines of 
authority for name spaces. A PKI modeled on the DNS would parallel 
the existing hierarchy and merely codify the relationships expressed 
by it in the form of public key certs.

Steve