[Cryptography] [cryptography] Extended Random is extended to whom, exactly?

[Dave Horsfall]

On Sun, 6 Apr 2014, ianG wrote:

> Fourthly, they are commissioned by the CA, for the CA, of the CA, not 
> for you, nor written with you in mind.  There is a false expectation 
> that the public can rely on auditor's reports, but this only applies to 
> formal audit reports in a financial reporting context.  Beyond that, 
> it's ... open to question.  So typically, you are not entitled to rely 
> on an auditor's report, and while they'll accept you have that 
> fallacious impression, you can be sure they'll fight it in court and 
> win.

There's an old joke along those lines (moderator willing).  Something 
like:

What's 2 + 2?

The computer scientist writes a program and proudly announces "4.1".

The engineer whips out his slide rule and says "it's about 4.0, +/- 10%".

The auditor checks the curtains and the doors to make sure that they are
closed, and then asks "What do you want the answer to be?"

> Oh, and fifthly, they are dryer than a Mars rainfall survey.

Love it!  Could be worse, though, like Venus...

-- Dave