Senator Diane Feinstein Wants to know about the Benefits of P2P

Mon Aug 30 21:45:12 UTC 2004

Scott Call wrote:

> 
> On Mon, 30 Aug 2004, Mike Tancsa wrote:
> 
>> I recall even seeing posts about people claiming this meant original 
>> data being reconstructed from the checksum!  That would be truly 
>> amazing since I could reconstruct a 680MB ISO from just 
>> 61d38fad42b4037970338636b5e72e5a. Wow!
> 
> 
> Technically, using an Infinate Monkeys approach, you could rebuild the 
> ISO by generating the expentially huge quantity of all possible data and 
> check them and find the one that matches the ISO.
> 
> Not practical but possible.

Not possible. There are, theoretically, many 680 MB ISOs that have that
hash. That you produce _a_ 680 MB ISO that has that hash does not
mean that you have _the_ particular 680 MB ISO that produced it.
-- 
Crist J. Clark                               crist.clark at globalstar.com
Globalstar Communications                                (408) 933-4387