next up previous
Next: Payment Up: The Eternity Service Previous: Mathematics or metal?

Indexing

The system's directory will also have to be a file in it. If users are left to remember file names, then the opponent can deny service by taking out an injunction preventing the people who know the name from revealing it.

The directory should probably contain not just the file's logical name (the one which relevant security servers would understand), but also some further labels such as a plaintext name or a keyword list, in order to allow retrieval by people who have not been able to retain machine readable information.

The current directory might be cached locally, along with the most popular files; in the beginning, at least, the eternity service may be delivered by local gateway servers. Injunctions may occasionally be purchased against these servers, just as some university sites censor newsgroups in the alt.sex.* namespace; however, users should still be able to ftp their data from overseas gateways. Ultimately, we will aim for a seamless integration with the rest of the Internet.



Ross Anderson
Tue Jun 17 15:08:09 BST 1997