[Cryptography] reliable broadcast channel

[Howard Chu]

jamesd at echeque.com wrote:
> A key cryptographic primitive in group cryptographic protocols is the
> reliable broadcast channel - that any participant can reliably send a
> message that is available to all participants.
> 
> In actual practice we have unreliable point to point two party
> communications, from which we have to construct a broadcast channel.

I don't believe this description is true for IP multicast. But you
can't track success without maintaining the equivalent of point to
point state.

> Practical applications of these cryptographic protocols seem to be
> relying on a trusted broadcaster, who is apt to be untrustworthy when
> there is money, power, or valuable secrets lying on the table.

-- 
  -- Howard Chu
  CTO, Symas Corp.           http://www.symas.com
  Director, Highland Sun     http://highlandsun.com/hyc/
  Chief Architect, OpenLDAP  http://www.openldap.org/project/