Re: GnuPG/OpenPGP primer?

["Bret Martin" <user=1614@nabble.blu.org>]

 On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:15:24 EDT Dan Ritter wrote: 
[...] 
> And that brings us to public key systems, in which the algorithms are 
> well-known and the keys come in two parts: a private key which you 
> keep very, very secret and a public key that you publish on a 
> keyserver and on your website and so forth. 
[...] 

I can't remember where I first read/heard this suggestion, but someone 
pointed out that an alternate analogy that might be more apt is to call 
the public key a "lock" and the private key a "key". 

The public key, like the lock on a door, is out there for anyone to 
observe.  (I can't think of how encrypting a message to someone using 
their public key would fit into this analogy.) 

The holder of the private key can prove that she has the private key 
that goes with the public key of the same pair -- just like someone with 
a key can put the key in the lock and turn it. 

I just noticed the Wikipedia article has a section that uses this 
alternate analogy: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography#A_postal_analogy

--Bret 

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