Re: OpenPGP keysigning: alternate encodings for fingerprint exchange
Paul Wise, 2013-06-28 08:10+0200:
> I think that hexadecimal is a fairly poor pre-encoding for information
> exchange via data to speech and speech to data engines (aka voice boxes,
> brains and fingers). Reading out and typing long strings of hexadecimal
> digits at OpenPGP keysignings is tedious and annoying.
>
> So I'm experimenting with alternate encodings (thoughts welcome):
Excellent idea! Our brain works in such a way that, even without
producing a single sound, we use speech to copy and to check data, in
this case fingerprints, and hexadecimal digits are terrible for such an
use.
Speakable words would be a considerable improvement, but that does not
strictly imply that they need to be real words in the user's language,
even if that would represent a interesting bonus.
Now, all english words are not easily speakable by foreign users, and
some words could be mistaken. There could be some alternative to an
English dictionary:
* basic or special English;
* a limited selection of English words, designed to maximize difference;
* Esperanto;
* latin;
* syllables rather than full words.
I am not sure of what is the best solution, but I like the idea of using
syllables, wich would give some kind of flexibility. This is the basic
idea of the bibinary numeration, invented by the French singer and
comedia Bobby Lapointe for instance, which gives a representation of
every single hexadecimal digit with a single syllable.
Syllabic representation should be designed with care however, to avoid
producing the usual martian-only-speakable crap, as apg does for
instance:
CeHyetphAm2 (Ce-Hyetph-Am-TWO)
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: /` ) Tanguy Ortolo <xmpp:tanguy@ortolo.eu>
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