Subject: RE: Logotypes [not] in certificates

From: Frank Balluffi <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 07:13:16 -0800

Bodo Moeller said:

> So it is likely that logos will be trusted *instead of* looking at the
> certificate details, rather than in addition to that.  I.e., most
> users won't even notice to which country the logo applies.  This opens
> a new can of worms.  Just one example: Until a couple of years ago,
> the owner of the Bayer name and the Bayer cross logo for the US and
> Canada was a company that had little to do with Bayer AG.  (In 1994,
> Bayer AG bought the division of Sterling Winthrop that had previously
> used these trademarks in North America; then, in 1995, Bayer's US and
> Canadian subsidiaries changed their names from "Miles Inc." and "Miles
> Canada Inc." into "Bayer Corporation" and "Bayer Inc.", respectively.)
> It is because of issues like this that distinguished names are
> hierarchical.

The level of trust will depend upon the application. A bad application is a
bad application. As RFC 3039 says about biometric information, logos should
be used to "enhance identification of the subject."

Frank