{Refering to my earlier post about the possibility of black-boxing the commercial ViaCrypt and comparing it to freeware PGP} I've been most gratified by the response (private and posted) to my question. Thanks for the enlightenment. The first few responses were diametrically opposite in their conclusions, but after that what I have taken away as the message is that the session key is generated on-the-fly and would be different every time, although I guess I still don't understand enough to figure out why no matter what the program uses as randomness input some really bright boy capable of working real down close to the silicon couldn't fake up some sort of a test bed to spoon-feed the "randomness" to the program. It's not like this thing runs on quantum randomness. Is it? As for why bother when the freeware is available, plausible deniability was mentioned and I think that is probably the most convincing argument. The Jackson Games seizure, and other computer confiscations by law enforcement are enough to keep any company from allowing a copy of PGP on the premises, it also has a fairly chilling effect on those less brave souls who don't have the power of their convictions and are willing to trust the government not to snoop on their E-mail or phone conversations. The right to privacy can be eroded away because most people don't care to learn how the box on the desk works, let alone worry about exercising their civil liberties. Hell, most people don't even bother to vote. I found out about PGP from the WIRED article on the cypherpunks, and I have been doing as someone else suggested, turning other people on to privacy. I have converted several friends already and they in turn are spreading the encrypted word. eep-Kay o-nay rypting-'Cay, cjl