From: gtoal@an-teallach.com (Graham Toal)
Date: Thu, 25 Nov 93 11:19:52 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: PC Based One-Time Pad
Message-ID: <10563@an-teallach.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


In article <199311251654.AA02190@world.std.com>
           kkirksey@world.std.com "Ken B Kirksey" writes:
 > While I was reading though _Applied Cryptography_ last night, a thought
 > struck me (no damage):  Why hasn't anyone come up with a good Mac or PC based
 > One-Time Pad system.  
 
Because they're trivial to write.  I could do one in less that 15 minutes.
 
 > It seems like this would be a fairly easy system to implement, but since
 > no one (to my knowledge) has yet done so, there must be something I'm
 > missing. :-)  

Because very few people can be bothered driving half way across the
country to deliver the OTPs.  It's *way* too much hassle for day to
day use of the kind we use pgp for.  And if someone *is* doing it
for real security (like say AT&T shipping around their secure phone
circuit diagrams because they don't trust clipper :-) ) then they're
*not* going to be mentioning it in passing on usenet news groups...

G
PS No, you *don't* send them in the mail.  But you knew that, right?
--
Personal mail to gtoal@gtoal.com (I read it in the evenings)
Business mail to gtoal@an-teallach.com (Be careful with the spelling!)
Faxes to An Teallach Limited: +44 31 662 4678  Voice: +44 31 668 1550 x212