On Fri, Jun 23, 2006 at 03:36:05PM +0100, Michael Rogers wrote:
> The current CHKs, SSKs, USKs etc aren't very friendly for passing around 
> - they need to be escaped in URLs, they're case sensitive, and they're 
> rather long. KSKs and personal name->key directories can't be guaranteed 
> to agree about which file corresponds to a given name.
> 
> Can we create short, secure, readable keys?

KSKs are the best we're going to get. They're okay, as long as the
network is reasonably solid. But they're spammable.

> How about a key that's 
> simply the hash of an unencrypted redirect containing another key - a 
> CHK, SSK or USK? The key would only need to be 128 bits (truncated 
> SHA-1), the same length as a public key fingerprint or an IPv6 address. 
> 128 bits translates to 32 characters in hex:
> 
> 1dab-5a37-4c02-8d44-2a4a-9e3d-ea0d-a52c

The problem is that 128 bits isn't really enough; you'll get collisions
naturally from time to time. And it wouldn't be encrypted. CHKs are
simply CHK@<256 bit hash of content>,<256 bit encryption key>.
> 
> Hex can be made more readable (and even memorable) by converting each 
> block of 4 digits into a word using the following table, inserting u, v 
> or y as necessary to make words easier to pronounce:
> 
> 0123456789ABCDEF
> OINMTSGLRPABCDEF
> 
> 1dab 5a31 4c0m  8d44    2a4a 9e3d  ea0d   a53c
> idab sami tucom rudytut nata pemud eyavod asmuc
> 
> Not exactly catchy, but easy enough to read out over the phone or write 
> on a napkin.

Hmmm.
> 
> Cheers,
> Michael
-- 
Matthew J Toseland - toad at amphibian.dyndns.org
Freenet Project Official Codemonkey - http://freenetproject.org/
ICTHUS - Nothing is impossible. Our Boss says so.
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