From: Jan Dobrucki <s1180@qmail.pjwstk.waw.pl>
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 07:44:50 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: open-pgp / s/mime interoperability
In-Reply-To: <199811242259.WAA04469@server.eternity.org>
Message-ID: <365C8E1D.2A56D16D@qmail.pjwstk.waw.pl>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Abstract: "Should I buy PGP or S/MIME?" 
<This little thing is a recap on what I think these posts are bout.>

Well, I just want to remind something, something that someone else has
mentioned not so long ago, and it's this: PGP is Open Source, while
S/MIME is not.
This means PGP and it's algorithms have been scrutinized over, while
S/MIME has not... Although this might not be enough to decide weather
to use PGP or S/MIME, I would give a '+' to PGP for making an effort
to be accountable, and a '-' for S/MIME for being secretive.
 
Sincerely,
Jan Dobrucki

<the article is cut...>

DSA is a signature-only algorithm. Consequently, you aren't doing a
"decryption" with it when you evaluate a signature. I recommend you
look in
a crypto source book, like Schneier's "Applied Cryptography" or
Menezes,
van Oorschot, and Vanstone's "Handbook of Applied Cryptography" for
details
of how DSS is done. There is also source code available from a wide
variety
of places.

<the article is cut...>