CAcert at big events

Contents

CAcert at big events

This is the Assurer's guide to participation in a CAcert Assurance Event. See also EventOrganiser.

Things needed

Personnel

Minimum:

three assurers at 50 Experience Points (150 old points, can issue each up to 35).
- Note that all Assurers are now required to pass the AssurerChallenge.
one or two people for backup, short breaks, answering questions, keeping the crowd 'calm'

Better:

2 or more Assurers for pre-checking forms
2 or more helping hands (not only for peak times)
people for "flying assurance" of other companies' personnel that cannot leave their booth to come to CAcert

If you're planning CeBIT or LinuxTag you're better off with "or more" Maybe you can put emergency personnel in the neighbouring booth that can help at peak times.

At all events, someone is the Event Organiser. He or she is the person you will ask for further details on the event, what to bring with you, if there is a Dress code (Business Events) or if T-Shirts just fine, which technical material is needed and so on.

Infrastructure

You will need:

Tables and Chairs
Internet connection (nice to have but not really needed!)
PC/Laptop
- at least one so as to mail out for urgent questions or download documents
  - important documents should have also be printed out before the event see below Documentation
- maybe good for each assurer, so that in idle times they can work on completing the Assurances
black light lamp to check security features

Documentation:

customized CAP forms with the assurers names (see FAQ/AssuranceByCAP)
- a lot easier to read
empty CAP forms for the new assurers to do some assurance as well
Laser printer and paper for printing more CAP forms and PR-stuff
pens (lots of them!)
many printed copies of the CCA (printouts: CCA DE, CCA EN) to hand to new Members to take home and read
single copies of important documentation for reference:
- the Assurance Policy
- Assurance Handbook
- one big copy of CAcert Community Agreement (CCA) to post on the wall
- NRP's old D a L has been replaced by Root Distribution License (RDL)
- Dispute Resolution Policy (DRP)
- Practice On Names (now included in Assurance Handbook)
- Practice on ID Checking
- Policy on Junior Assurers / Members (PoJAM)
- Certification Practice Statement (CPS)
Business cards with the Assurer's Name and email address, so that new Members can contact you for help (can be handled with flyers).

Optional things to consider:

a switch (for more PCs) or a router (to use NAT)
have an extra Power Cable and Ethernet Cable (eg. 5-10m) with you
one more computer for new users to create their account on CAcert.org (see Discussion below)
Donation-Box
Have the the WoT Forms be added to the conference package (proceedings), so that everyone already has one, and make sure that the place of the booth is printed on it, so that the people find it)

Stuff for Public Relations

Contact Events organisation or Public Relations under Events team <events AT GOOGLEMAIL cacert DOT org> or PR team <pr AT GOOGLEMAIL cacert DOT org> and give Details about the Event (there are two teams working hand in hand)
CAcert reminder: very small piece of paper with CAcert logo and URL to give to new members
- e.g., business cards with your email address on it, your Name, and your "CAcert Assurer" title.
badges with CAcert-Logo (and name?)
info-flyer ("What's CAcert?", "FAQ")
A4 signs (or bigger) with CAcert-logo (colour preferred!)
A4 signs with logo and slogans like Want a free SSL certificate (both in English and local language)
CAcert T-Shirts for staff ( see special offer for t-shirts in Europe )
Have a look at the PR directory on SVN, you might find interesting things there: https://svn.cacert.org/CAcert/PR/
Request a Banner 200x75 cm (Within Europe there still exists 3 of them - a. Teus (NL) 1x, b. Uli (DE) 2x)

Assurance procedures for Big Events

Be aware that ...

if you are the EventOrganiser:
- you will need to check that the Assurers have passed the AssurerChallenge, even though the system now blocks those who haven't.
- This should be done at the beginning, so you can help any new Assurers can be helped through this process. Time taken for the test is around 15 minutes.
- try to collect ALL contact information from all Assurers at the booth. There might be further questions and you will need to contact each to follow up
- Note for all: the Event Organiser's major task is to manage the Event, and not do Assurances. The Event Organiser is responsible for good running of all the other things, so shouldn't be doing Assurances if there are other Assurers available. Also, he will need help, so keep your eyes open for that.
Most people won't have their own CAP-forms filled out at such events
- have more then enough CAP-forms with you!
- try and have a printer
- at some events with hardware booths like CeBIT, you can drop in to the printer vendors and ask them if they can do you a few hundred fast copies
Only few people will "drop in" unless CAcert has been mentioned (positively) in the (event's) media (see {de} http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/57435 for an example)
double check if people filled out the Form correctly, check Names (e.g. if people have more then one Names, etc.)
Most work has to be done after the event because people don't
- a) create their account b) validate their account c) put their correct email-address or date of birth on the form
- review these common issues with the Assurers.
If you're planning to do a pre-check, you should set-up tables in a way that people cannot skip the pre-check. Let the pre-checker be a load-balancer for the Assurers so that they can do their job without big crowds gathering around their tables.
Keep a clean, professional booth!
- Don't have to much stuff and garbage at the booth. Do regular clean-ups.
- Usually there is only a small booth. Be aware of that.
- organise another place for the bags, boxes, jackets and so forth. Get them out of sight, and safely stored.

Computers

It might be good to have an extra PC/Laptop for those who want to join CAcert at the booth (see also Discussion below).
- it may be good to process as many assurances as possible online (CAcert.org - WoT - Assure someone)
- You should boot an OS from CD-ROM to grant maximum safety. Try Knoppix LIVE-CD_Linux! In Knoppix 3.8 the root-certificate of CAcert is included in KDE/Konqueror and Firefox!
- only use machines that you can rely on for secure operation.
- If you only have one PC/Laptop it's wise *not* to let people join at the booth because this is a bit time-consuming (password, lost-password-questions and -answers, ping-email by webmail)
It's good to have "Kensington locks" to keep your hardware from moving elsewhere!
Don't use wireless keyboards!

The Procedure 'en detail'

Part 1 - At the booth

 START:
 the applicant queues at the assurer's aid desk
 if (applicant has filled CAS) goto READY_TO_CHECK_ID
 hand out CAS
 READY_TO_CHECK_ID:
 if (applicant has created account at www.cacert.org) goto CONTINUE
 tell him, that he should create account at home 'soon' after the event.
 hand out the tiny 'CAcert-reminder'.
 CONTINUE:
 the assurer's aid marks (if not yet done by the applicant) the form with an 'A' ('account created')
 the assurer's aid checks the applicants documents of identity (passport, id-card, driver's license) very thoroughly!
 the assurer's aid marks the form with his sign so the assurer knows the ID is pre-checked
 the assurer's aid tells the applicant to queue at the assurer's desk to be checked again ("Four eyes principle")
 (at the assurer's desk)
 the assurer checks very thoroughly the identity of the applicant and the CAP form.
 if (OK) the assurer marks the points issued, lists the types of ID and signs the CAP form
 if (account exists and queue is not too long) goto ONLINE_ASSURANCE'''
 put the CAP for on the staple "not yet assured"
 goto END
 ONLINE_ASSURANCE:
 the assurer enters the email address for online assurance (he's already logged in)
 if (account is verified) check name(s) and birthday, if OK proceed, if not *don't* issue any points!
     You should send the applicant a nice email and ask him to correct his details. goto END
 the assurer marks the CAP form the the assurance is completed
 the assurer puts it on the staple "completely assured"
 END:

 done.

Part 2 - Later or at home

Proceed to work through the pile of forms "not yet assured".
You can send a "reminder notice" to the Member.
Some of the Member's accounts will not be verified so send them a polite mail and ask for verification.
- what does this mean?
if you are the EventOrganiser:
- you have to write an Event Report for audit purpose to confirm in the report that the Assurance Policy was followed during the event and sending the report to the EventOrganisationOfficer

Additional Information

There are some more details on the Points page in the 'Getting Points on Big Events' section.

Discussion

April 2009: Its more unlikely for security purposes to use Computers on Events to let Assurer Candidates create accounts on CAcert.org.