At 12:58 AM 2/20/96 -0800, tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) wrote:

To wit: public key systems drastically simplify the whole key exchange problem.

Exactly. I was trying (not very successfully, I fear) to explain this point just this afternoon to an acquaintance who's developed a handy-to-use but not at all really secure encryption utility. Quite apart from the issue of key size, the public-key system means that I never have to have a secure channel to start communicating. If I've got a channel secure enough to send a clear password to you, I don't need the encryption for security reasons. (_Economic_ reasons may well be valid ones, in practice, but again, if a secure channel isn't routinely available, I say go for the tool that doesn't require it.) I find that it generally takes a few repetitions of this for it to sink in, but once it does, an "aha!" usually follows. -- Bruce Baugh bruce@aracnet.com http://www.aracnet.com/~bruce