Relative Cryptography

[Geoff Wright]

This looks fairly interesting - if it's not pie in the sky. Does anyone h=
ave
access to the text of the paper?

Geoff Wright


Einstein's theory used to devise new code

 August 17, 1999 Web posted at: 12:31 PM EDT (1631 GMT)=20

 LONDON (Reuters) -- A British mathematician has discovered a new applica=
tion
for Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity -- cryptography.=20

 Dr. Adrian Kent, assistant director of research in the department of App=
lied
Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, has u=
sed
Einstein's discovery that signals cannot go faster than light to devise a=
 new
type of code.=20

 The new encryption allows an individual to make a prediction with a guar=
anteed
date stamp that only they can reveal.=20

 Someone could use the code to predict something and unveil the message a=
fter
the event with proof that it was made before it happened.=20

 "We have learned in the last 15 years that quantum physics has important
applications in code-making, but this is the first serious application of
Einstein's relativity theory. It solves what was up to now thought an
impossible problem," Kent said in a statement.=20

 "Other important problems in cryptography may well also be solvable usin=
g the
same techniques," he added.=20

Kent's research is published in the current issue of Physical Review Lett=
ers, a
journal of the American Physical Society.=20




ABSTRACT: Unconditionally Secure Bit Commitment=20

 Adrian Kent Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics,
University of Cambridge, Silver Street, Cambridge CB3 9EW, United Kingdom=
=20

 (Received 13 July 1998)=20

 We describe a new classical bit commitment protocol based on cryptograph=
ic
constraints imposed by special relativity. The protocol is unconditionall=
y
secure against classical or quantum attacks. It evades the no-go results =
of
Mayers, Lo, and Chau by requiring from Alice a sequence of communications=
,
including a postrevelation verification, each of which is guaranteed to b=
e
independent of its predecessor. =A91999 The American Physical Society=20


http://pubster.aip.org/en/bin/login?Tag=3D/&URI=3D/AIPcgipath/doc/getps-P=
RLTAO/disk3/journals/journal_cgi/getps%253FKEY%253DPRLTAO%2526cvips%253DP=
RLTAO000083000007001447000001&