One of the things we discussed for putting in OpenPGP was what I've called
"SDSI names." These are local name or other user IDs. The consensus I've
seen is that while people think it's a good idea, there was no
implementation proposal for it.
There is presently an -- ummm -- situation (I don't know if it's a bug)
with the way keys work. There is no reason why anyone can't add a username
to a key, which is not necessarily a good thing. Arguably, a key server
should trim off any user id that is not self-signed, because it's the
self-signature that says that the key owner agrees to be known by that name.
On the other hand, SDSI names, local names, or whatever you want to call
them are a Good Thing. It strikes me that the Attribute packet could easily
have a constant in there for a local name -- a text user id that acts like
any other user id, except that it won't be exported.
Jon
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Jon Callas jon(_at_)pgp(_dot_)com
CTO, Total Network Security 4200 Bohannon Drive
Network Associates, Inc. Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 473-2860
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665B 797F 37D1 C240 53AC 6D87 3A60 4628 (RSA)