This did not happen when cypherpunk Hal Finney posted a message and challenge; everyone saw that resources were assembled, and the key was cracked. What I see as more likely than 'did/did not' is the Netscape-style assertion that the computer time used cost N million dollars (Ok, NS claimed the compute cycles were worth $10,000.) As such, the analysis needs to be presented in light of the fact that 3des would take 3 times as long to encrypt, and take 2**56 times as many dollars worth of compute power to decrypt. To put that to scale, if the computer power to break des is one cent, the federal debt (5 trillion) wouldn't get you close to breaking 3des. Or IDEA takes roughly as long to encrypt, and is even stronger. And available to forigners, since it was invented, and patented, in the free world. Adam Mike Duvos wrote: | If a lone Cypherpunk simply encrypts a file with DES-ECB, hides | the key in a drawer, and publishes the cyphertext and plaintext | for use in a distributed cracking effort, there will of course | be the suggestion that the exercise was rigged, and any public | policy implications will be lost in the endless "Was So/Was Not" | quibbling which will undoubtedly take place after the crack is | complete. -- "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -Hume