[4067] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: Intel announcements at RSA '99
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (James A. Donald)
Tue Jan 26 01:57:46 1999
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 22:23:00 -0800
To: Dan Geer <geer@world.std.com>, Ben Laurie <ben@algroup.co.uk>
From: "James A. Donald" <jamesd@echeque.com>
Cc: cryptography@c2.net
In-Reply-To: <199901251721.AA04395@world.std.com>
--
At 12:21 PM 1/25/99 -0500, Dan Geer wrote:
> The falsifiable hypothesis for a multiplier, say, is that
> it gets the right answer. The falsifiable hypothesis for
> a RNG is a long slog through volumes of output.
If the random number generator is sufficiently simple and
well understood, then the fact that it turns out random
looking stuff is strong reason to believe that it is working
as designed.
If the random number generator elaborately massages its
output, for example by running it through SHA, then it would
be very difficult to determine that it is working as
designed.
--digsig
James A. Donald
6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG
17Dd+YQp5Kf8bt/Y873n/xKTRWPMKN2qcvVsAAg5
4XzWgPvQ5KxYUjNf5+hg96PNe9lqEJMPR4q+ld95i
-----------------------------------------------------
We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because=20
of the kind of animals that we are. True law derives from this=20
right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state.
http://www.jim.com/jamesd/=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 James A. Donald
