Re: Unofficial Release

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

Tom Rollins writes:

> Perry @ insi.com says:
> >Way overkill. Remember that 2000 is not just twice as hard as 1000 --
> >even breakthroughs that improved factoring speed by factors of
> >thousands couldn't break 2000 bit keys any century soon, if ever. I'd
> >worry more about my key management -- before putting in even the
> >effort to crack a 1500 bit key they are likely to just listen in on
> >the emmissions from your keyboard and monitor.
> 
> Ahhhh, It is nice to know that people won't even TRY to crack
> big keys. Cracking, you know, is a lot like the lotto. You
> MIGHT guess the correct key on the first TRY. But, if you
> don't TRY, then you won't crack the key.
> 
> 	"Gotta play to win"

If this was tongue in cheek, I missed it. Nobody in their right mind
will try a brute force attack on a 1024-bit key, let alone a 1200- or
2000-bit key. Unless there are flaws in PGP and/or RSA we haven't
heard about.

As for lotto, simple calculations tell anyone that the best way to win
is not to play. The return _at best_ is 30 or 40 cents on the
dollar, with the rest going to all the various programs the lotto is
supposed to support. The more you play, the more you lose.

(I think gambling is a perfectly fine "tax on stupidity," collecting
money from the gullible. However, banning gambling by private citizens
while having the government run their own casinos and lotteries is
crummy. It's government at its worst.)

--Tim May



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