-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Jiri Baum writes:

This is not really the case. The way PGP is set up, the operations that take a long time are those that involve the secret key - signing and decrypting. Encrypting and checking signatures are much quicker.

In other words, the person that chooses the key is the one that'll be most delayed.

(I think it's something to do with the relative sizes of the exponents.)

Right. We can (generally) make a "small" choice of the public exponent e, with a corresponding "large" choice of the private exponent d, rather than having them both "medium-sized". A "small" choice of d, however, would be easy to guess, which is a Bad Thing (tm). Futplex <futplex@pseudonym.com> *** Welcome to Cypherpunks -- Now Go Home *** -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBMO2jkinaAKQPVHDZAQF7BAf/XrZ+abVfAw2Vle/8yomUZkC1Ol35g2yf gx6QKEkPDwEhw2B1qUJPA0veJmU4wGoXO5dOjsDkUtPtCU4StBVu2Axo2Hf1cknz raBWi/htN7xxKdeZ9+xiYduN3QQxwAhot8yTuaXqwswgjDwWjS4JJvfMG49lEqEN PGVHbYHKYlIumjzgLE5TbQ58EkNWmOw/BqojniTDyf98+5tZz0t2gx+ezLMG1S9C b12uCrw+EMmS7JDM+197xP+7JenXJUL41REVUAOVlcKh4TBLVFkRtzWa8Bt6vbPk A7XiFKE9PdjzaOOUo1M2lI8ocz5nq7PysghSt8UzBGDDvUmIWd+0RQ== =h4Li -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----