Prime magnitude and keys...a ?

[Linn Stanton]

In message <199406171911.OAA11449 at zoom.bga.com>you write:
  > You only found a single set of factors for your public key (ie 3,8 also work)
  > and if I had asked "is the number 6?" as my first question then I would have 
  > had it in 1 single guess which does *NOT* qualify as factoring your key.

Of course it qualifies. No matter how a key gets broken, its
broken. The point is that if a function exists which will tell you if
a given number is larger than the RSA private key, that function can
be used as a factoring algorithm.

  > the fact it is a subset of what I am talking about means that there are some
  > issues (and possibly an algorithm or two) that are outside of the purvue of
  > a discussion limited to simply factoring. The horizon has been expanded.

No, what it means is that you would have to break most of number
theory, and common sense, before having to worry about such a
function. The risk of exploding in the vacuum caused by all of the
molecules in the air of this room suddenly moving to the far corner is
far higher than the chance of such a function existing.