A really short one time pad.

Actually, here are ten. 2^.5 3^.5 2^(1/3) 5^.5 5^(1/3) 7^.5 11^.5 13^.5 17^.5 Pi For that patter the nth root of any prime number. A lifetime of "pads" could be distributed in one trip. Of course this still means that you have to make the trip, and write down all of the above with a referring codeword or number. Cheap, I know. Wonder if this type of "one time pad" is as foolproof as truly randomly generated ones.

At 5:39 PM -0800 11/12/96, Sean Roach wrote:
Actually, here are ten. 2^.5 3^.5 2^(1/3) 5^.5 5^(1/3) 7^.5 11^.5 13^.5 17^.5 Pi For that patter the nth root of any prime number. A lifetime of "pads" could be distributed in one trip. Of course this still means that you have to make the trip, and write down all of the above with a referring codeword or number. Cheap, I know. Wonder if this type of "one time pad" is as foolproof as truly randomly generated ones.
You needn't wonder. These are not one time pads. Read any opening chapter of any book on crypto to see why. However, there might be a good company you could put together around this idea. (I wonder why nobody has thought of something so easy....) --Tim "The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology." [NYT, 1996-10-02] We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:
At 5:39 PM -0800 11/12/96, Sean Roach wrote:
Actually, here are ten. 2^.5 3^.5 2^(1/3) 5^.5 5^(1/3) 7^.5 11^.5 13^.5 17^.5 Pi For that patter the nth root of any prime number. A lifetime of "pads" could be distributed in one trip. Of course this still means that you have to make the trip, and write down all of the above with a referring codeword or number. Cheap, I know. Wonder if this type of "one time pad" is as foolproof as truly randomly generated ones.
You needn't wonder. These are not one time pads. Read any opening chapter of any book on crypto to see why.
However, there might be a good company you could put together around this idea.
(I wonder why nobody has thought of something so easy....)
this was proposed a couple months ago by a Robert Shueey, he first posted asking if "Irrational=Random". not sure if he got any responses.
--Tim
"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology." [NYT, 1996-10-02] We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
participants (3)
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Ron Strasburg
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Sean Roach
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Timothy C. May