From: The Deviant <deviant@pooh-corner.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 07:12:07 -0800 (PST)
To: John Anonymous MacDonald <nobody@cypherpunks.ca>
Subject: Re: IPG Algorith Broken!
In-Reply-To: <199611240904.BAA23488@abraham.cs.berkeley.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.94.961124150747.15531B-100000@random.sp.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


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On Sun, 24 Nov 1996, John Anonymous MacDonald wrote:

> 
> At 6:56 PM 11/23/1996, The Deviant wrote:
> >On Sat, 23 Nov 1996, John Anonymous MacDonald wrote:
> >> The good news is that you can prove a negative.  For example, it has
> >> been proven that there is no algorithm which can tell in all cases
> >> whether an algorithm will stop.
> >
> >No, he was right.  They can't prove that their system is unbreakable.
> >They _might_ be able to prove that their system hasn't been broken, and
> >they _might_ be able to prove that it is _unlikely_ that it will be, but
> >they *CAN NOT* prove that it is unbreakable.  This is the nature of
> >cryptosystems.
> 
> Please prove your assertion.
> 
> If you can't prove this, and you can't find anybody else who has, why
> should we believe it?

Prove it?  Thats like saying "prove that the sun is bright on a sunny
day".  Its completely obvious.  If somebody has a new idea on how to
attack their algorithm, it might work.  Then the system will have been
broken.  You never know when somebody will come up with a new idea, so the
best you can truthfully say is "it hasn't been broken *YET*".  As I
remember, this was mentioned in more than one respected crypto book,
including "Applied Cryptography" (Schneier).

> diGriz

 --Deviant
   PGP KeyID = E820F015 Fingerprint = 3D6AAB628E3DFAA9 F7D35736ABC56D39

"All in all is all we are."
		-- Kurt Cobain


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