Re: Key fingerprints?

[Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

>>>    I don't have an informed opinion on whether or not things like
>>>    bubble-babble or the "random ascii-art" thing really helps users.
>> In general, neither do I.  But I have found that, in my own case,
>> the base-85 encoding is _much_ more usable than the openssh-style
>> hex.
> I'd be careful about going too far with this.  Compactness is nice,
> but so is the ability to read a fingerprint over the telephone.

Agreed.  Different fingerprint presentations for different purposes.
My base-85 presentation is fairly specifically optimized for visual
comparison; moussh prints both the hex:hex:hex form and the base-85
form because they are optimized for different use cases and the
software has no way to tell which is more appropriate at the moment.

> I think that at least means being case-insensitive, and probably also
> avoiding some other characters (I'm assuming we are starting with
> printable ASCII).

Maybe have a table of 16384 words and print it 14 bits at a time using
them?  That's language-specific, of course....

Optimizing for comparing by eye is very different from optimizing for
voice (eg) over the telephone, and I would expect it to be difficult to
satisfy both at once.

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