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Comment by Edmond

4 months ago

There is a solution and I am the developer:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40298552#40298804

Talking about it or explaining it is like pulling teeth; generally just a thorough misunderstanding of the notion....even though cryptographic certificates make the modern internet possible.

15 comments

Edmond

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whall6  4 months ago

How are the certificates issued?

  • Edmond  4 months ago

    https://certisfy.com/partnership/

    Any number of entities can be certificate issuers, as long as they can be deemed sufficiently trustworthy. Schools, places of worship, police, notary, employers...they can all play the role of trust anchor.

    • arctek  4 months ago

      This just moves the issue elsewhere though. I do agree that adding an extra step of having to notarize documents will filter many people.

      But outside of this if someone is determined they can issue fake documents at this level of provenance.

      Drivers licenses for example you can buy the printing machine and blanks (illegally) so you actually need to check the registrar in that location.

csomar  4 months ago

I don’t get it. What is to prevent a 9 year-old from buying a certificate and using it?

  • Edmond  4 months ago

    This video addresses that:

    https://youtu.be/92gu4mxHmTY

    All certificates are cryptographically linked to an identity-anchor certificate, meaning buying a certificate would require the seller reveal the private key tied to the identity-anchor certificate, a tall order I would argue.

    In the case of stolen identity certificates, they can be revoked thus making their illegitimate utility limited.