[12842] in Cypherpunks
Re: Random #'s via serial port dongle?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perry E. Metzger)
Mon May 2 07:03:33 1994
To: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 29 Apr 1994 14:28:33 PDT."
<199404292128.OAA28043@netcom.com>
Reply-To: perry@imsi.com
Date: Mon, 02 May 1994 07:00:53 -0400
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@snark.imsi.com>
Timothy C. May says:
> I don't think generating random numbers is all that much of a
> priority. The Blum-Blum-Shub C code is available, and I defy anyone to
> break _that_ PRNG!
Its partially a question of speed. Many applications, like one time
pads, are just too slow to generate random strings for given normal
techniques. Its partially a question of automation -- I'd like to be
able to generate public/private key pairs on a regular basis and its
hard to do given all the goddamn typing. Its partially a question of
abstract hacker satisfaction -- one would like to know that one's
numbers are RANDOM.
Myself, I'd want one.
Perry
