From: Bruce Baugh <bruce@aracnet.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 17:18:48 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Compelling Advantage of Public Key Systems
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960220082955.00691914@mail.aracnet.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 12:58 AM 2/20/96 -0800, tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) wrote:

>To wit: public key systems drastically simplify the whole key exchange problem.

Exactly. I was trying (not very successfully, I fear) to explain this point
just this afternoon to an acquaintance who's developed a handy-to-use but
not at all really secure encryption utility. Quite apart from the issue of
key size, the public-key system means that I never have to have a secure
channel to start communicating. If I've got a channel secure enough to send
a clear password to you, I don't need the encryption for security reasons.
(_Economic_ reasons may well be valid ones, in practice, but again, if a
secure channel isn't routinely available, I say go for the tool that doesn't
require it.)

I find that it generally takes a few repetitions of this for it to sink in,
but once it does, an "aha!" usually follows.

-- 
Bruce Baugh
bruce@aracnet.com
http://www.aracnet.com/~bruce