Yes, Robert, that is possible. However, IIRC, signatures come with a
time stamp. In the case I am envisioning, the quotER is taking it from
somwhere, and the quotEE can show the prior, complete post.
Yes, this does not prevent someone from pre-creating two different
messages, but someone resorting to that level of duplicity is both
uncommon and will likely have other prevaricatory methods as well.
--Avi
On 1/13/09, Robert J. Hansen <r...@sixdemonbag.org> wrote:
> Avi wrote:
>> For example, given the possibility of a piece of an e-mail being
>> quoted out of context, signing my messages allows me to
>> demonstrate the totality of what I did write at the time I wrote
>> it, so I have a recourse to show the entire post and its
>> context. The same would apply for text documents, etc.
>
> Yes and no. If I ask "Avi, did you really say 'I liked Yasser
> Arafat'?'", you might present me with this message:
>
>
> "With respect to the Munich Massacre -- I don't know
> who was ultimately responsible for it, but I always
> liked Yasser Arafat as the chief culprit."
>
>
> ... But unbeknownst to me, you /did/ actually say "I liked Yasser
> Arafat. I liked him quite a bit, really. I often had him over for tea
> and scones and we would talk about our families."
>
> When confronted with the quote "I like Yasser Arafat", you wanted to be
> able to deny saying it. So you wrote up an innocuous text message
> involving the Munich Massacre, reset your computer clock back, signed
> it, and then presented me with the doctored message as proof of what you
> _really_ said at that point in time.
>
> You cannot use signatures to put excerpts in context, not in the general
> case. The timestamp problem is a killer.
>
> If the person presenting you with a quote also includes the signature of
> the message they're quoting, though, then yes, this becomes possible.
> But if they're excerpting you, odds are good they don't have your signature.
>
--
Sent from my mobile device
----
en:User:Avraham
pub 1024D/785EA229 3/6/2007 Avi (Wikipedia-related) <aviw...@gmail.com>
Primary key fingerprint: D233 20E7 0697 C3BC 4445 7D45 CBA0 3F46 785E A229
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