OASIS Open

Unknown

Yes

Even though PKI has not been widely adopted, symmetric keys are a step in reverse as they limit access to use to only established entities who can securely create and transmit their highly security sensitive private key to the court. With PKI, the public key can be distributed easily, even posted on a website for download, which makes enabling signatures easier and more secure. With symmetric keys, if any part of the chain is compromised, instead of only that party's key needing to be replaced, all of the keys that they have access to would need replacing which could increase the cost of security and maintenance for those involved with symmetric key use. All this being said, after discussions with other members of the group, I can see where this technique could be used. Although, I may not agree with it's use, I will vote yes to allow the option for it's use by those who wish to.