Merge commit 'micah/master'

[monkeysphere.git] / website / why.mdwn

diff --git a/website/why.mdwn b/website/why.mdwn
index 5dc0e05a08e33e6b7cfb7f991c6a82d732c2e6eb..336643988abae643b51c514f079194884fb67cc8 100644 (file)
--- a/website/why.mdwn
+++ b/website/why.mdwn
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-[[!template id="nav"]]
-

 [[meta title="Why should you be interested in the MonkeySphere?"]]
 
 [[toc ]]
 [[meta title="Why should you be interested in the MonkeySphere?"]]
 
 [[toc ]]


@@ -33,7 +31,7 @@ ever connected to?
 
 [Get started with the monkeysphere as a user!](/getting-started-user)
 
 
 [Get started with the monkeysphere as a user!](/getting-started-user)
 

-## As an system administrator ##
+## As a system administrator ##

 
 As a system administrator, have you ever tried to re-key an SSH
 server?  How did you communicate the key change to your users?  How
 
 As a system administrator, have you ever tried to re-key an SSH
 server?  How did you communicate the key change to your users?  How


@@ -137,3 +135,43 @@ than the current infrastructure allows, and is more meaningful to
 actual humans using these tools than some message like "Certified by
 GloboTrust".
 
 actual humans using these tools than some message like "Certified by
 GloboTrust".
 

+## Philosophy ##
+
+Humans (and
+[monkeys](http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-17/mi-17.html))
+have the innate capacity to keep track of the identities of only a
+finite number of people. After our social sphere exceeds several dozen
+or several hundred (depending on the individual), our ability to
+remember and distinguish people begins to break down. In other words,
+at a certain point, we can't know for sure that the person we ran into
+in the produce aisle really is the same person who we met at the party
+last week.
+
+For most of us, this limitation has not posed much of a problem in our
+daily, off-line lives.  With the Internet, however, we have an ability
+to interact with vastly larger numbers of people than we had
+before. In addition, on the Internet we lose many of our tricks for
+remembering and identifying people (physical characteristics, sound of
+the voice, etc.).
+
+Fortunately, with online communications we have easy access to tools
+that can help us navigate these problems.
+[OpenPGP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openpgp) (a cryptographic
+protocol commonly used for sending signed and encrypted email
+messages) is one such tool. In its simplest form, it allows us to
+sign our communication in such a way that the recipient can verify the
+sender.
+
+OpenPGP goes beyond this simple use to implement a feature known as
+the [web of trust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_trust). The web
+of trust allows people who have never met in person to communicate
+with a reasonable degree of certainty that they are who they say they
+are. It works like this: Person A trusts Person B. Person B verifies
+Person C's identity.  Then, Person A can verify Person C's identity
+because of their trust of Person B.
+
+The Monkeyshpere's broader goals are to extend the use of OpenPGP from
+email communications to other activities, such as:
+
+ * conclusively identifying the remote server in a remote login session
+ * granting access to servers to people we've never directly met