TWOK! Au contraire, mon ami...
Eric Drexler estimates that with nanotech, it should be possible to create a 1 GHz processer that fits in 1/8 of a cubic micron. It would take 1E24 such processors to factor a 2048 bit number. If we wanted to factor that 2048 bit key in 1E6 seconds, a couple of weeks, we would need 1E18 processors, which would fit in a cube 100,000 microns on a side. This is 10 cm on a side, about the volume of a soccer ball. A far cry from the whole earth, no?
GURK! I meant that it would take 1E24 seconds for one such processor to factor a 2048 bit number. The rest is right. Use an 8K bit key and it will be 1E30 times harder than a 2K key. Now your soccer ball is comfortably bigger than the earth. You will have to convert the sun into a CPU to break it with nanotech. "John ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com