XPost: alt.privacy, sci.crypt   
   From: nobody@goldmark.org   
      
   Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier (and thanks for the later nudge).   
      
   On 11-02-11 4:48 PM, VD wrote:   
      
   > In this context, PT _might_ meet the criteria of an asymmetric   
   > transmission. PT would be the public "key" or sounds everyone could   
   > hear or see (hidden in meaning), the private "key" is the ability to   
   > translate. Only the select have that key, it is self-generated and   
   > exists within the select only.   
      
   Harry may not have known that he was speaking Parseltongue, but he   
   certainly understood what he said and heard in it.  So I don't see the   
   asymmetry you describe. Harry, at times, didn't know that he was   
   speaking a "secret language" (think of the duel in Chamber of Secrets,   
   when he thought that everyone heard him trying to stop the snake). But I   
   don't see how this is analogous to public key encryption.   
      
   > Isn't this similar to a PGP/GnuPGP encrypted email for instance? With   
   > the only difference being the keys are used by intelligent programs   
   > instead of the intelligence of the individual?   
      
   As I said, just because Harry wasn't conscious of his knowledge or use   
   of Parseltongue, he still understand what he was saying and hearing. So   
   again, I'm afraid that as cool as I think Parseltongue is, with respect   
   to the question of cryptography it is no difference than an ordinary   
   (though obscure) human language.   
      
   I jumped into this thread hoping to come to a different conclusion.  But   
   from code talkers to shibboleths, we've seen ordinary language used in   
   the same was a Parseltongue.   
      
   Cheers,   
      
   -j   
      
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