Tim May wrote:
Someone in Cypherpunks has a novel solution: print code in the most easily OCRable font---I think the suggestion was that OCR-A and OCR-B, or somesuch, are optimized for this (one would think so from the names, but I had thought they had something to do with the magnetic ink printing on checks...).
I'm sure Schneier would be entertain the idea of a special "exportable" version of his code in which purchasers paid the $30 he charges and received a loose-leaf book of very neatly and precisely printed code, ready for easy OCRing.
I think that it's a great idea for enterprising cypherpunk publishers to print "exportable versions of restricted code." There should be a good market, whether or not code is OCR-able. There may be a lot of unavailable code that could be worth typing. As a matter of fact, any plain font OCRs very well. The costs of such publishing would be very low, and I for one wouldn't mind paying >$50 for such 'code books'. Phil Karn <karn@qualcomm.com> wrote:
Oh come on, all this talk about OCR makes it sound like nobody would ever be willing to just type in the code by hand. It only need be done once, and the task could easily be divided up for a group. The listings for any particular cipher just aren't that long.
But the listings for a library of ciphers are. Besides OCRs are quite good nowadays, you don't really have to print in an OCR font. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh rishab@dxm.ernet.in Voicemail +91 11 3760335; Vox/Fax/Data 6853410 H-34C Saket New Delhi 110017 INDIA The National Short-Sleeved Shirt Association says: Support your right to bare arms! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------