From: pmetzger@shearson.com (Perry E. Metzger)
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 93 09:24:28 PST
To: thug@phantom.com
Subject: Randomness
Message-ID: <9301271622.AA02754@maggie.shearson.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> From: thug@phantom.com (Murdering Thug)
> 
> Yes I do think the idea of making a "more random than random" stream
> by filtering out long runs of 0's or 1's weakens the the key stream
> in theory, but in practical use it strengthens it, because if the stream
> is left alone, runs of 500 bits of 0's or 1's can come through, and any
> fool can then extract plain text using XOR in this area of the cyphertext.

The odds against a run of 500 1's is one in 2^500th, which is a number so
large I can't imagine a real random number source creating it in the lifetime
of our universe. Presumably, your problem is that your random number source
is crap.

Perry