no-ks-modify effect on signature uploads

[David Shaw]

On Aug 11, 2010, at 11:52 AM, Hauke Laging wrote:

>> Also, it could be defeated
>> trivially by just exporting a key to a text file (always legal),
> 
> When doing this with such a key then a warning should be issued. This would 
> have the additional positive effect of making users aware of the privacy 
> problem over time.

99%+ of all keys created with GPG have the flag set (it's the default).  This would mean that virtually every time a key was exported with GPG, the exporter would get a warning along the lines of "hey, please don't upload this to a keyserver".

At that point, it's just noise.

>> and then
>> uploading it to the keyservers using the web.  It would have been an
>> illusion of actual functionality.
> 
> No, not an illusion of functionality, maybe an illusion of protection.

I dislike illusion in security software.  Either a protection is strong or it is not, and we should not pretend otherwise.

The only way to properly implement the flag is on the server side.  I'd rather work towards that real answer than do something weak on the client side.

David