Timed-release crypto and information economics

Beavis B. Thoopit beavis at bioanalytical.com
Thu Nov 9 11:37:30 PST 1995


> That's a pretty large number of assumptions:
> 
> 	tamper-proof delay line
> 	=> tamper-proof crypto box ("transformation function with state")
> 	=> tamper-proof delay line
> 
> Why not just put a tamper-proof clock in the tamper-proof crypto box
> and not bother with the delay lines?

The tamper proof aspect is really secondary to the math question.
The idea that if I set up a stream of bits through a transform, that
the original state of the transform affects the final outcome after
N iterations.

If the transform exists, it will ease/eliminate the reliance on the
"economics" of cryptography to build a tamper-proof physical device.

Here is another implementation of the idea:

initialize buffer to '12#fjKL3_*(ASDdj1ll3_13 asdfasd-1-3!#!23'
do forever      /* actually until the plaintext spews out */
  sleep 1 unit
  for each element in the buffer
    buffer[ element ] = magictransform( buffer[ element ] )

The initial buffer must be secret!

Calculating the intial buffer in such a way that after N iterations
the plaintext message appears is what must happen.






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