Subj : Numbers stations
To   : Deuce
From : Digital Man
Date : Thu Aug 18 2005 12:34 pm

  Re: Numbers stations
  By: Deuce to Digital Man on Wed Aug 17 2005 12:54 pm

 >  >  > Of course, using a rotating schedule of magazines as the OTP would wor
 >  >  > well I would assume... or even various local newspapers...
 >  >
 >  > The problem with text as the OTP, rather than purely random data, is that
 >  > however radomly chosen, still has a predictable pattern which can lead to
 >  > ciphertext being decoded.
 > 
 > Hrm?  There is no predictable pattern... you don't use the same set of numbe
 > twice in a OTP...
 > 
 > Let's say I'm using a current magazine as the OTP and the numbers represent
 > page, line, word, letter.  I wouldn't need to repeat the same set of four
 > numbers at all ever.  Without any repetition, there is no pattern to discove
 > 
 > The only way to decode it is to 1: discover what each number means then 2:
 > Figure out what book/magazine/etc the OTP is.

In that example, that's true, but that's not typically how an OTP is applied.
Your example is similar to the Beele Treasure book cipher, which I never really
thought of as a OTP.

                                                  digital man

Snapple "Real Fact" #158:
The first MTV video was "Video Killed the Radio Star," by the Buggles. 

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