>I think it comes down to this - who should have the responsibility for
>maintaining the information?
>
>If MY identd hands you a token which is all the information I will need
>back from you if you file a complaint, then I'm no longer responsible
>for maintaining my logs such that I can keep or throw them away without
>regard to this particular use of them.
>
>if MY identd hands you a timestamp, I'm now required to keep those logs
>for a(n unknown) period of time.

well...yes, and no.  i've always been of the opinion that if you don't
ask me about something before i delete it, it's your problem.  given
that i keep log files for a year or two (some varieties go back one
year, others approximately two), i don't really expect someone to come
up to me with a problem for which i don't have the logs.  i don't
think you're required to keep your logs at all.

>> it's only use now is to give an opaque token to the remote admin that
>> they can later hand back to you if they need some sort of information.
>> if your logs have expired, then you can say "sorry...you took too long
>> to ask me about that."  it will be their loss, and they will be no
>> worse off than if you hadn't been running one in the first place.
>> 
>> i have yet to see a court case that *established* a statute of
>> limitations that implied a time period over which a system admin is
>> expected to archive his logs, so i don't expect the "law" can
>> reasonably find themselves put off by your inability to provide logs.
>> i keep mine only as long as they are interesting to me.  i have a
>> friend who reads (and deletes) his logs regularly.
>
>The encrypted reply option would seem to solve the problem more completely.
>(Except for regions with prohibition.)

i think you could legitimately claim that you were using cryptography
here for authentication purposes only.  that ought to make the case
for it easier.

-- 
|-----< "CODE WARRIOR" >-----|
codewarrior@daemon.org             * "ah!  i see you have the internet
twofsonet@graffiti.com (Andrew Brown)                that goes *ping*!"
andrew@crossbar.com       * "information is power -- share the wealth."