The recent discussion "Chaff in the Channel" got me thinking about an alternative to hiding random bit streams in picture files. The goal of steganography, as I see it, is to provide plausible deniability. The problem with hiding bit streams is that you can never be sure if the opponent has developed an analysis technique to prove a particular file contains a suspicious bit pattern. The alternative to hiding bit streams is to not hide them. Use them to generate pretty pictures. For example, modify a fractal image generator to accept a bit stream as input. Use the bit settings to influence the values used to iterate the fractal function. You don't have to use fractals, any function that produces pretty pictures would probably work as long as there was a way to extract the bit stream from the final picture. Brute force would probably work fast enough for humans. One possibility is a screen saver that produces an "infinite" variety of pretty pictures by generating a pseudo-random bit stream and using it to help generate the next background picture. Occasionally, the picture might be so cool you will want to send it your friends or post it on the Net or just keep it around to look at. The goal is to create an innocent reason for passing around unique images that contain random bit streams so we don't have to worry if somebody finds the bit stream. If you live in a country that doesn't outlaw abstract art you have plausible deniability. Jim_Miller@suite.com