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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!don
From: don@allegra.UUCP (D. Mitchell)
Newsgroups: net.crypt
Subject: Random Pad is Correct
Message-ID: <2363@allegra.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Mar-84 17:50:48 EST
Article-I.D.: allegra.2363
Posted: Mon Mar 26 17:50:48 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Mar-84 01:49:23 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 10

Someone quoted (or misquoted) Divida as saying true random bits
sequences could not be used for one time pads.  This was because one
could get a long run of zeros as long as the message and thus wind up
sending the text plain.

That is an invalid argument.  If the enemy sees a message that says
"launch all missles", he does not know that the key was zero!  The
chances are exactly that same the the key was some pattern of bits that
converted any arbitrary message into "launch all missles".  It is
completely correct to use totally random bits in a one time pad.