Use of PGP---statistics from the public key servers

[Peter Kretzman <peter.kretzman@mccaw.com>]

The following table shows the frequency breakdown, by key generation  
month, just over the past year, of the approx. 3300 public keys that  
are available on the public key servers (I used the one at  
<public-key-server@martigny.ai.mit.edu>).  Note that I've included  
revoked keys, but there are only 19 of these from the same time  
period.  


In other words, of the keys out there, 211 of them were generated in  
March of 1993, 216 in April, etc.  


I have no idea if these numbers correlate well to actual PGP use  
(these are, after all, just the people who are activist enough to  
post their key on the public key server, which also requires some  
degree of Internet connectivity).  If the numbers DO correlate to  
some degree, I thought it was interesting that they appear to show a  
recent decline in usage rather than a steady ramp-up.  Is the trend  
toward universal crypto slacking off?

        Keys
Month   Generated
------  ---------
 03/93  211  

 04/93  216 

 05/93  205  

 06/93  169 

 07/93  167 

 08/93  169 

 09/93  206  

 10/93  287 

 11/93  225 

 12/93  207 

 01/94  148
 02/94  118   (through 2/24/94)
 

---
Peter Kretzman
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