Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Alice doesn't live here anymore


In developing the Liberty People Service, we often relied on a particular use case (a principal named Bob trying to determine the coordinates of his friend Alice) to help us clarify requirements.

Having one user ask (or more likely a provider asking on behalf of that user) for a resource 'owned' by another, and maintaining the privacy of each through pairwise pseudonyms, presented us with a variety of challenges, both conceptual and technical.

Over time, Bob and Alice (and sometimes the mysterious 'Tony', was he Alice's friend or what? He just kind of showed up) almost became honourary members of the Technology Expert Group.

But, overtime, familiarity bred contempt.

Bob, I am sick and tired of your incessant whining and repeated 'Where are you Alice?'. Take the hint buddy. If she liked you don't you think she'd actually be close enough that you wouldn't have to ask? And Alice, how about being honest for once in your life and just tell Bob how you feel? Women like you make me sick with how you lead guys on!

2 comments:

Pat Patterson said...

Hmm - I think Smokie had a similar problem back in the 70s - Living Next Door To Alice, later covered by Roy 'Chubby' Brown

Anonymous said...

I have never trusted Alice or Bob... there was clearly a lot more going on there than they were prepared to be open about.

And this goes way back before Federation, to PKI and even symmetric crypto days. Talk about having a history.

I mean, what about that whole clique there was around them; Trent... what a creep ("You can trust me, Alice. So can Bob. In fact, why don't you both rely on me instead of trusting each other?"). What's he insinuating, the snake-in-the-grass?

And then there was Mallet. What kind of a name is that, anyway? Sounds sort of passive-agressive to me.

Call me fascist, but I think people like them should be barred from the internet, not held up as security role models.

Has no-one thought of the children???