Re: [IETF-PKIX] What is a PKI

[Dan Geer <geer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Q:
"What is a PKI?"

A:
This being a world of competition and/or
marketectures, I'd imagine that for practical
purposes Lewis Carroll had it right:
  forall(I) "A word means what I choose it to mean"

If that sounds flip, one could say that just
as the final word in software documentation is
the source so, in like manner, the final word
in PKI definition will be precisely what finally
works well enough for someone important to
actually base a mission critical business on.
We are not there yet.

Were it not for electronic commerce, a PKI would
be of mere academic interest.  Investments in
EC are made to make money, largely on the cost
reduction side of the ledger (which is the easiest
money to make).  Since there is no commerce without
contract, no contract without recourse, no recourse
without evidence, no evidence without signature,
and no signature without PKI, it looks like EC
is Applied PKI to me.  The rest is just bits.

--dan