A really short one time pad. (fwd)

[Charles Gimon]

Forwarded message:
> Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 08:02:16 -0600 (CST)
> From: Ron Strasburg <rstrasbu at bronco1.hastings.edu>
> To: cypherpunks at toad.com
> Subject: Re: A really short one time pad.
> 
> On Tue, 12 Nov 1996, Timothy C. May wrote:
> > At 5:39 PM -0800 11/12/96, Sean Roach wrote:

[deletia]
> > >For that patter the nth root of any prime 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.
> > 

> 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. 

"The Broken Dice" by Ivar Ekeland has a chapter that discusses Shannon,
Kolmogorov, what is random and what isn't. Interesting, readable,
non-technical.