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Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2014 11:18:41 +0100
Message-ID: <CANEZrP3mUnU9h20V_Ss_FH0md91PnKhUTKmuM_8rPPuZuvjdJA@mail.gmail.com>
From: Mike Hearn <mike@plan99.net>
To: "Ryan X. Charles" <ryan@bitpay.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=001a11c2a5f64b09a304f3d9588e
Cc: Bitcoin Dev <bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net>
Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] BIP70 proposed changes
Precedence: list

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>
> On an unrelated note, X.509 is a terrible standard that should be
> abandoned as quickly as possible. BitPay is working on a new standard
> based on bitcoin-like addresses for authentication. It would be great if
> we could work with the community to establish a complete, decentralized
> authentication protocol. The sooner we can evolve beyond X.509 the better.


Because this is such a common sentiment, I wrote a couple of articles on
the matter.

The first is about why BIP 70 uses the SSL PKI and an examination of the
most commonly proposed alternative ideas:

   https://medium.com/p/b64cf5912aa7

... including the web of trust, using bitcoin addresses/the block chain,
allowing multiple certs, trust-on-first-use and (for SSL only)
perspectives/convergence.

The second is a summary of some of the most famous crypto-usability
research papers published in the past 10-15 years. They cover SSL and PGP.
If you're interested in designing alternatives, reading these papers would
be a good place to start:

    https://medium.com/p/d04ea6a2c771

There's a book from O'Reilly called Security & Usability that contains 34
papers and essays. It's very good:

   http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596008277.do

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><div class=3D"gmail_quote"><blo=
ckquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left=
-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;paddi=
ng-left:1ex">
On an unrelated note, X.509 is a terrible standard that should be<br>
abandoned as quickly as possible. BitPay is working on a new standard<br>
based on bitcoin-like addresses for authentication. It would be great if<br=
>
we could work with the community to establish a complete, decentralized<br>
authentication protocol. The sooner we can evolve beyond X.509 the better.<=
/blockquote><div><br></div><div>Because this is such a common sentiment, I =
wrote a couple of articles on the matter.</div><div><br></div><div>The firs=
t is about why BIP 70 uses the SSL PKI and an examination of the most commo=
nly proposed alternative ideas:</div>
<div><br></div><div>=C2=A0 =C2=A0<a href=3D"https://medium.com/p/b64cf5912a=
a7">https://medium.com/p/b64cf5912aa7</a> =C2=A0</div><div><br></div><div>.=
.. including the web of trust, using bitcoin addresses/the block chain, all=
owing multiple certs, trust-on-first-use and (for SSL only) perspectives/co=
nvergence.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The second is a summary of some of the most famous cryp=
to-usability research papers published in the past 10-15 years. They cover =
SSL and PGP. If you&#39;re interested in designing alternatives, reading th=
ese papers would be a good place to start:</div>
<div><br></div><div>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 <a href=3D"https://medium.com/p/d04ea6a2c=
771">https://medium.com/p/d04ea6a2c771</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>The=
re&#39;s a book from O&#39;Reilly called Security &amp; Usability that cont=
ains 34 papers and essays. It&#39;s very good:</div>
<div><br></div><div>=C2=A0 =C2=A0<a href=3D"http://shop.oreilly.com/product=
/9780596008277.do">http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596008277.do</a></di=
v><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div>

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