Talk:Cipher

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Revision as of 21:20, 2 August 2008 by imported>Howard C. Berkowitz (→‎Again, an unwarranted deletion of a citation: new section)
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 Definition A means of combining plaintext (of letters or numbers, or bits), using an algorithm that mathematically manipulates the individual elements of plaintext, into ciphertext, a form unintelligible to any recipient that does not know both the algorithm and a randomizing factor called a cryptographic key [d] [e]
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 Workgroup categories Mathematics, Military and Computers [Categories OK]
 Subgroup category:  Security
 Talk Archive none  English language variant American English

Constable help needed for unwarranted deletion of reference

Since I wrote some of the article, I may not be able to speak as a neutral editor, but I can see absolutely no justification for removing a citation, from one of the most authoritative textbooks in computer science, from the commentary about the need to generate random numbers by non-numeric means.

I cited, under Talk:One-time_pad some research that might suggest that it may be possible to generate pseudorandom sequences that are unpredictable, but I would want to spend a few hours on those proofs. There is no reason whatsoever for deleting the Knuth citation. Howard C. Berkowitz 21:08, 2 August 2008 (CDT)

Again, an unwarranted deletion of a citation

Since I wrote the Venona article, I believe I know what is in it. If, therefore, I believed that it was useful to wikilink to it, rather than having the direct citation in the references for this article, I would have done so. I did not. Sandy Berger has not explained the second deletion of a relevant citation. Howard C. Berkowitz 21:20, 2 August 2008 (CDT)