IP: Re: More on the Harvard unbreakable encryption

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 18:31:04 -0500
>To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>From: Steve Crocker <steve@stevecrocker.com>
>
>
>The comments on the Harvard unbreakable encryption scheme are delightful
>and informative.  One minor detail caught my eye.
>
> >Three, this scheme will never be used. Launching satellites gets
> >cheaper all the time, but why would someone have them broadcast
> >random numbers when they could be doing something useful
> >instead?
>
>Satellites are multi-purpose vehicles.  Think of a satellite as a bus with
>multiple applications ("payloads") on it.  The incremental cost of a random
>number generator and transmitter is probably fairly low.  If there ever
>were a satellite which spewed out random numbers, it would almost certainly
>have significant other functions.  This doesn't change any of the rest of
>the analysis.
>
>Steve



For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/