I tried to mail these comments directly to Eric Raymond, who posted his in progress FAQ. My mail bounced, so I am posting it in hopes that he will get it. I missed a lot of the FAQ commentary, so I apologize if this is all known. Scott Collins | "Few people realize what tremendous power there | is in one of these things." -- Willy Wonka ......................|................................................ BUSINESS. voice:408.862.0540 fax:974.6094 collins@newton.apple.com Apple Computer, Inc. 1 Infinite Loop, MS 301-2C Cupertino, CA 95014 ....................................................................... PERSONAL. voice/fax:408.257.1746 1024/669687 catalyst@netcom.com ..........bounced comments follow.......... Hi, Good work on the FAQ. I'ts not a rewarding job, I'm sure; I just wanted to personally express gratitude. Sorry I took so long to get these comments to you.

The best-known PKCs are [...] DES

DES is a symmetric cypher, i.e. *not* a public key crypto-system.

`digital signature' or `message digest code' or `message hash'

A message digest or hash is distinct from a digital signature. In particular, for a given input, everyone will derive the same digest or hash but a different signature.

The three major DSS techniques are Snefru, MD5, and DSS.

Again, MD5 is not a signature algorigthm. It is only a (supposedly) cryptographically secure, i.e. one way, hash. Everyone who runs MD5 on the same input, will get the same output. If you meant that MD5 is used as a component of some signature algorithms (which is true), then I apologize, it wasn't clear to me.

DSS is [...] associated with the Clipper proposal.

They both come from the government. They were both influenced by the NSA. They are not associated in any formal way. More cousins than brothers.

c. DC-net or similar protocols to thwart spoofing.

DC-nets are anonymous voting mechanisms (at their heart). I don't see the direct relation to 'thwart spoofing'.

If two or more people encode known text with their private keys applied in succession, all their public keys will be required to decode it. This is an unforgeable contract.

Yes, although more often digital signatures are what people want and mean when they discuss digital contracts. With individual digital signatures, i.e. a hash of the contract signed with your private key, each signature can be individually verified.

RSA stands for `Rivest-Shamir-Adelson',

Adleman Keep up the good work, Scott Collins | "Few people realize what tremendous power there | is in one of these things." -- Willy Wonka ......................|................................................ BUSINESS. voice:408.862.0540 fax:974.6094 collins@newton.apple.com Apple Computer, Inc. 1 Infinite Loop, MS 301-2C Cupertino, CA 95014 ....................................................................... PERSONAL. voice/fax:408.257.1746 1024/669687 catalyst@netcom.com