<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Dec 1, 2015, at 7:08 AM, John Levine <<a href="mailto:johnl@iecc.com" class="">johnl@iecc.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="">In article <<a href="mailto:20151201070719.10e0cafa@jabberwock.cb.piermont.com" class="">20151201070719.10e0cafa@jabberwock.cb.piermont.com</a>> <br class=""></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class=""></blockquote><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><div class="">The patent in question is 6,202,150. Here's the first claim:<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">1. A method and apparatus for generating public keys and a proof that<br class=""> the keys were generated by a specific algorithm comprising the steps of:<br class=""><br class=""> the user's system generating a random string of bits based on system<br class=""> parameters;<br class=""><br class=""> the user running a key generation algorithm to get a secret key and<br class=""> public key using the random string and public parameters;<br class=""><br class=""> the user constructing a proof being a string of bits whose public<br class=""> availability does not compromise the secret key and wherein said<br class=""> constructing of said proof requires access to said secret key, but at<br class=""> the same time said <b class="">proof </b>provides confidence to at least one of a<br class=""> plurality of other entities that said<b class=""> public key was generated</b><br class=""><b class=""> properly</b> by the specified algorithm, and wherein said confidence is<br class=""> gained without having access to any portion of said secret key.<br class=""></blockquote><br class="">Perhaps I'm dim, but isn't that just a description of certificate<br class="">signing? It couldn't possibly have been novel in 1997 when this<br class="">patent was filed.<br class=""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""><div class="">A Certificate does not offer “proof" that the “public key was generated properly”. It proves the identity of the public key. Unless they are not using a normal term for “proof” and/or “properly", I find this hard to believe that an EC public key can be “proven” that it was generated properly. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>