Authenticating logos

[Amir Herzberg]

Ron said, 
> While valid claims (decision about trust is made based on logo, etc.),
> similar things happen outside of "cyberspace".
> A person goes to AT&T store, with a big logo in front, eventually
gives
> his
> credit card information to the person sitting there. That person,
maybe an
> employee of a dealer / franchise store owner (similar to the Palm
case).
> Does that person trust the employee? probably not. Does he trust the
store
> owner? Maybe not. He made his decision based on the logo in front,
which
> may turn out to be fake.

Absolutely correct; but, why can a person make this assumption? Because
the legal system protects AT&T's right to the logo, and AT&T will invest
heavily in going after anybody using their logo without authorization or
improperly. 

A very important goal of secure commerce is to provide alternate
mechanisms in cyberspace. This is since when a hacker is using AT&T's
logo in her website, it may not be feasible for AT&T to sue him (in
particular he may reside in places where logos are not protected as
well...). Cryptography provides an alternative way to ensure `law and
order`, by making reputation a tool for both prevention (you work only
with reputable entities) and for reward and punishment (I'll give you a
certificate if I'm happy with your work, and create a web site about
your lousy service). 

Cheers, 

Amir Herzberg
See http://amir.beesites.co.il for lectures and notes (draft of
chapters) on `secure communication and commerce using cryptography`;
feedback welcome!




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