From: wlkngowl@unix.asb.com (Mutatis Mutantdis)
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 95 22:18:25 PST
To: Jerry Whiting <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: Re: More elveator problem
Message-ID: <199512110720.BAA04212@UNiX.asb.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Sat, 9 Dec 1995 00:23:41 -0800, Jerry Whiting wrote:

>More on The Elevator Problem:

>I'll confess that we're working on a new private key encryption product. Free 
>and clear of existing claims on intellectual property, I'd like a protocol 
>that answers the elevator problem: how can Alice and Bob agree on a private 
>key via a compromised channel? I don't want them to meet under a street lamp 
>and whisper in each other's ears _before_ trying to establish a secret on a 
>crowded elevator.

[..]
>Something that I neglected to mention before is that Alice and Bob do have a 
>unique ID within this system, not that they necessarily know each others. If 
>one assumes that they do, they then share a secret: the knowledge of each 
>other's unique ID.
[..]

Wait... are unique IDs secret from others? Can they share theirs with
ea. other without compromising something?

Maybe using a hash of their combined secret ideas (adding them, or
mixing the bits... how long is the unique ID?) can be used to generate
a "key" to exchange other information....


>Jerry Whiting
>jwhiting@azalea.com