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The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Sat Apr 10 1999 - 01:18:02
Bruce Schneier (schneier@counterpane.com)
Tue, 12 Jan 1999 12:50:50 -0600
At 08:47 AM 1/11/99 +0100, Mok-Kong Shen wrote:
>Jim Gillogly wrote:
>>
>
>> Mok-Kong Shen writes some text on how to construct stream ciphers
>> that may or may not have useful cryptological properties. However,
>> calling them Pseudo-OTP immediately puts the discussion into disrepute,
>> because this is an attempt to carry the authority of OTP into a region
>> where it doesn't apply.
>>
>> You're designing stream ciphers. These are not OTPs. Feel free to
>> describe clever ways to come up with the keying material, but calling
>> it anything to do with a OTP is -- sorry to be so blunt -- fatuous.
>> That's the thing about a OTP: either it's a OTP or it's not. There's
>> no such thing as a pseudo-OTP, a nearly-OTP, an almost-OTP, or any
>> other qualifier.
>>
>> There's nothing wrong with designing stream ciphers and evaluating
>> their properties, and I applaud the effort... as long as they aren't
>> being flogged as snake-oil.
>
>First of all, I don't think terminology is that extremely important.
>Second, the term pseudo-random numbers is certainly well-established.
>I can't see why the relation of pseudo-random numbers to (true)
>random numbers would be of a different nature than the relation
>of pseudo-OTP (a term I coined) to (true) OTP. (Note that a
>psudo-random number sequence is 'deterministic', it is not 'random'
>('stohastic') in the proper sense at all). The prefix 'pseudo'
>should have conveyed enough of the proper, i.e. 'negative', meaning
>to its readers. So I think its use is 'morally' justified.
I diagree. Terminology is very important. And getting it wrong makes
you look stupider than you probably are. And the relationship between
a one-time pad and a pseudo-one-time pad, and the relationship
between a PRNG and an RNG are very different. What possibly gave
you the impression that they are the same? The first word?
Bruce
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The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Sat Apr 10 1999 - 01:18:02