An encrypted e-mail package
In this spirit
I want to collect messages from and to others.
I want messages to facilely include public keys in text just as html hyperlinks include URLs in text.
I will call these crypto-links for this note.
I want to group messages by:
- which public keys they mention,
- which keys signed them,
- to which keys they were sent,
- by which of my keys they were signed.
Messages should be addressed to a public key, the same key by which it is enciphered, and some subsidiary function, the mailman, should be in charge of choosing an e-mail address, or other conveyance, depending on the public key, with which to transport the message.
Key Management
I want to attach text to a key pair that I produce.
I want text to include public keys as mail above.
I want to keep notes about public keys of which I am aware.
User Interface
I want to move the mouse over a crypto-link and get options to:
- show snippets of other mail and key notes that mention the same public key,
- send mail to that public key.
This presumes an interchange format that embeds public keys clearly yet unobtrusively in text, like hyperlinks.
And of course I want this on a secure platform!
The Rôle of Names
I have conspicuously ignored how conventional names fit with these ideas.
I propose that they play no role in the formal reasoning but are replaced by the public keys.
They may form the visible text portion of a crypto link.
When gathering available documents that mention some specific public key, I would expect to see those visible portions that accompany the crypto-link.