Authenticating email

[Alexander Sarras]

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On Wed, 03 May 2000 08:30:14 -0400, Jonathan B. Bayer wrote:

>>Recently there was a thread on authenticating email.  Perhaps the
>>solution lies with ISPs rather than PMMail.
>
>But the same problem exists.  All the ISP can do is certify that a
>message was delivered to a computer on a specific date/time.  There is
>no way to verify that the computer in question was owned/controlled by
>a specific person.  A user can always claim that his/her
>userid/password/encryption key/computer were stolen.
But that argument can be used for smail as well, even for some forms of
registered mail. Since a court wouldn't dismiss _that_ kind of evidence
in normal cirumstances, i cannot, by default, reject the other.

On the other hand, if I'm presented at court with such an email
(tampered, but originally send by me) I'd swear: _That_ letter was not
written by me, and it'd be perfectly legal, as far as I understand
this. Still, neiter do I live in the USA nor am I willing to depend on
court rulings....
626 ;->
SaS
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