From: yanek@novavax.nova.edu (Yanek Martinson)
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 19:36:50 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: neat features that could be added to the crypto dongle
Message-ID: <9211260336.AA12812@novavax.nova.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Here are some neat ideas: 

If you and me both had one of these devices, we could connect them, and
exchange our public keys.  We could also exchange other public keys on
our keyrings.

Another useful thing it could do: watch the incoming rs-232 traffic for
anything that looks like a public key.  When one is detected, you would have
the option of storing it on your keyring.

It could have an LCD display, and then it could calculate a hash function
of someone's public key and display it.  This would make it easy to 
verify keys by phone or any other means.  Instead of spelling out the 
130-character alphanumeric sequence you would only need to verify a 
short (maybe about 8 to 12 digits) number.  

As someone mentioned, if something has a keypad and an LCD display, it can
also be a calculator. 

And, if it has two RS-232 ports it could be a break-out box or a line 
analyzer.

But I think this is creeping featurism.

--
Yanek Martinson    mthvax.cs.miami.edu!safe0!yanek     uunet!medexam!yanek
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