At 15:58 6/3/96, Raph Levien wrote:
Basically, an exportable S/MIME client can transmit messages up to 1024/40 bit RSA/RC2 (or RSA/DES), and receive messages up to 512/64 bit RSA/RC2 (or RSA/DES, but in the latter case I would imagine it's actually restricted to 512/56 because of the keysize of DES). Note that the asymmetry actually points in different directions for the public and symmetric keysizes.
What will be the maximum keysize for a domestic encryption client? It it is larger than 1024 bits, there will be interoperability problems with foreign clients. If the domestic client is limited to 1024 bits, it would set a bad precedence, since it would effectively require that the encryption key is smaller than the largest signature key. Disclaimer: My opinions are my own, not those of my employer. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.