Re: [harik@chaos.ao.net: Bug#47735: VIM includes encryption. Needs to become a non-US package.]

[bruce@perens.com (Bruce Perens)]

From: Wichert Akkerman <wichert@liacs.nl>
> He did bring up an interesting point: would translating something from
> English to Dutch also fall under encryption? It seems to fit all the
> criteria for encryption..

No. Here's why:

Codes and cyphers are not the same thing, although the term "code" is
often misused to mean both. For example, the "key" to the Morse code is
widely published, while the private key to my PGP cypher is kept secret.

Transformation of a text from ASCII to Morse code is encoding, not encryption,
because it does not obscure any information. Nor would translation from
ASCII to Unicode or English to Dutch be encryption, because the "key" is
public knowledge.

The act of encypherment or encryption is transformation of clear text into a
form intended to be unreadable by certain parties, creating a cryptogram. The
act of encoding, in contrast, is transformation without an intent to obscure.

	Thanks

	Bruce