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10.4: Use .Mac iChat certificates in Mail
Authored by: WillTBrown on Feb 06, '06 08:05:32PM

I do not have a problem with thawte, and I have been a Web of Trust notary with them for a couple years now.

The point of giving over unique, personally identifable informaiton to a Certificate Authority is that you can get your certificates trusted by a top-level third party. Having gone through the authentication process with thawte, I feel very confident with any email certifcate issued by thawte with a person's name on it.

I have also gone through the WOT assurance process with CACert.org, a group that gives out free email and SSL certificates.

Yes, you are giving out valuable information to a third party. But you do this all the time to Banks, doctors' offices, and your employer. I fear an underpaid clerk at the HR department at work selling my identity more than I do a company like thawte, which is in the business of keeping secrets, after all.

Just my two cents.



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