The Eternal Resource Locator: An Alternative Means of Establishing Trust (1998) [4 citations — 1 self]
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Abstract:
Abstract. Much research on Internet security has concentrated so far on generic mechanisms such as firewalls, IP authentication and protocols for large scale key distribution. However, once we start to look at specific applications, some quite di#erent requirements appear. We set out to build an infrastructure that would support the reliable electronic distribution of books on which doctors depend when making diagnostic and treatment decisions, such as care protocols, drug formularies and government notices. Similar requirements will be essential for other areas of human activities such as electronic commerce. We initially tried to implement a signature hierarchy based on X.509 but found that this had a number of shortcomings. We therefore developed an alternative way to manage trust in electronic publishing, that has a number of advantages which may commend it in other applications. It does not involve the use of export-controlled cryptography; it uses much less computational resources than digital signature mechanisms; and it provides a number of features that may be useful in environments where we are worried about liability. Yet another alternative involves use of one-time signatures. We have actually implemented one-time signatures for one version of the medical publishing system. This system initially used the familiar X.509 and RSA based signature mechanisms; the move to one-time signatures enabled considerable simplification, cost reduction and performance improvement. We believe that similar mechanisms may be appropriate for protecting other information that changes slowly and remains available over long time periods. Book and journal publishing or legal announcements in general appear to be strong candidates. 1
