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Re: MessageID wording paranoia

1998-03-26 12:39:37
At 07:26 AM 3/26/98 +0100, Thomas Roessler wrote:

   I completely agree.  But those parts of the spec which are
   already trying to shut down such channels should be
   written in a more thorough fashion.  I'd be quite happy
   with _random_ Message IDs - if an implementation has a bad
   random generator, you are in trouble anyways.
   
If you're dissatisfied with the wording, feel free to reword them.

In this particular case, I think there's merit in *suggesting* but not
mandating that the message id be a function of the message. There's nothing
wrong in suggesting that a hash be used, but there are plenty of other
suitable ways to do it, including just taking a slice of funtional slice
cyphertext, which is mathematically "random" and cannot leak any
information. Cyphertext is always sent in the clear, as it were.

I also think there's merit in not mandating how it's done, as long as it's
deterministic. However, I'm willing to listen to anyone who wants to argue
that that MUST on determinism be a SHOULD.

        Jon



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