Re: New draft - NULL Public Key Signatures

[Ed Gerck <egerck@xxxxxxx>]

Stephen Kent wrote:

> Phill & Marc,
>
> This draft, which Ambarish and I discussed months ago, is written in the
> same spirit as RFC 2410, the NULL encryption algorithm and its use in ESP.
> Maybe we can clue in the otherwise clusless in the security considerations
> section, but we have precedent for this style of RFC.

If you mean the section:

   NULL is a block cipher the origins of which appear to be lost in
   antiquity.  Despite rumors that the National Security Agency
   suppressed publication of this algorithm, there is no evidence of
   such action on their part. Rather, recent archaeological evidence
   suggests that the NULL algorithm was developed in Roman times, as an
   exportable alternative to Ceaser ciphers. However, because Roman
   numerals lack a symbol for zero, written records of the algorithm's
   development were lost to historians for over two millennia.

then out of place humor has just been redefined. Maybe it is indeed
time to consider technical writing rules when submitting RFCs, which
do not have to include references to "Ceaser" [SIC] in order to be
interesting.

Cheers,

Ed Gerck