A Conversation for Cryptography in today's communication

Cryptography

Post 1

Jeremy (trying to find his way back to dinner)

http://www.h2g2.com/A378579

Please feel free to add your judgement on my views of cryptography.

I wrote this entry because I think it's necessary to enforce cryptography and it's everyday use.


Cryptography

Post 2

MDS

You have a very good grasp of English, especially if this is not your first language. The only bit I had trouble following was the Key Exchange paragraph towards the end.

I think if the article is dealing with Cryptography in general you will really need to include a bit of the history - the early book codes and World War II encryption, for example. Either that, or use a more specific title for the piece: "Modern Crytography" perhaps or "Computer Cryptography". Something along those lines.


Cryptography

Post 3

Jeremy (trying to find his way back to dinner)

Thanks MDS,

Your kind notes encourage me to continue my contributions to the guide. You are right, English is not my first language.

1. I'll try to "defuse" the key exchange part.
2. I think that the history of cryptography is worth another entry. I'll change the title of mine, thanks for the hint.


Cryptography

Post 4

Jeremy (trying to find his way back to dinner)

MDS,

I edited my entry. Please have a look at it again. Unfortunately I could not change too much of the key exchange part. If you can translate it to a better English, I would gladly accept your help (with all due credit, of course!)


Cryptography

Post 5

Metal Chicken

Seems like a good intro to ideas of modern cryptography. One little problem though - your dozens-of-characters example of a coded message makes every line in your article that exact same length. This resulted in too much scrolling left and right to pay proper attention to your article. I'd recommend changing that so other people don't have the same problem.


Cryptography

Post 6

MDS

The text reads very well.

The bit I didn't understand was this: you say that Alice encrypts her message with a private key and then re-encrypts it with Bob's public key. Later, at the beginning of the Key Exchange paragraph, you say that Alice can't know for certain that she is using Bob's public key. How can she use the key without knowing who it belongs to ?

I suppose what I am really saying is: I don't understand the difference between a public key and a private key. Perhaps you might include a real-world example. Is it the difference between giving someone your e-mail address and giving them your password, for instance ? That I would understand.

The part about the "Web of Trust" is very clear.

One other small point:

The phrase 'he will be the lucky one' doesn't really work in that context. Perhaps "...he need not worry" or "he can be sure no-one else will be able to make sense of it."

There are one or two minor spelling errors as well ("etymology" rather than "ethymology"; "sure" rather than "shure" and the odd letter "d" missing from the word "and") but those are simple enough to correct.

All in all, I am sure this will make an excellent addition to the Guide!


Cryptography

Post 7

Lentilla (Keeper of Non-Sequiturs)

also: receive, not recieve (the only rule I remember from spelling... I before E except after C)


Cryptography

Post 8

Jeremy (trying to find his way back to dinner)

Thank you, MDS, Lentilla, Metal Chicken, for your advice and support.

I have tried to improve my entry according to your proposals. Please look at it again.

The only thing I couldn't solve are the long lines. I have no idea how this happened. Maybe someone can help me out?

Thanks in advance.


Cryptography

Post 9

MDS

The width of the page is due to your "number salad". Because there are no gaps in this, the computer treats it as one long word; but the word is too big to fit on a normal page so the page is expanded to fit it. If you put a space or two somewhere in the middle of all those symbols, that will split them up and enable the computer to place them on separate lines, thus reducing the size of the page.

Hope that helps!


Cryptography

Post 10

Jeremy (trying to find his way back to dinner)

MDS,

Thanks a lot for your hint. I should have known that myself ....

[FREE DRINKS FOR MDS ON]
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hours later
[FFFFREEE DRINCKS OFFF]


Cryptography

Post 11

Jeremy (trying to find his way back to dinner)

I've edited and fine tuned my entry once more. Please have a look at it and tell me what needs to be done to make it a part of the edited Guide (except for waiting smiley - smiley )


Cryptography

Post 12

Purple

http://h2g2.com/Subeditor-GuideML - (i think)

according to this its better to start with a preamble introduction instead of a straight at the start.


Cryptography

Post 13

Jeremy (trying to find his way back to dinner)

I changed that. Thanks for the feedback!


Removed

Post 14

Jim diGriz

This post has been removed.


Thread Moved

Post 15

h2g2 auto-messages

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review Sin Bin' to 'Cryptography in today's communication'.

Back to Entry - this became Edited Entry A491654 Public Key Cryptography in Today's Communication


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