Re: Compression Order

Signatures tend to be small - don't they?


Joe

> David Fischer wrote:
> 
> We are beginning to implement the Compression Draft specification:
> 
> http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ediint-compression-00.txt
> 
> and an implementation decision has arisen.  When Compression is
> applied in concert with Signatures, which should be applied first?
> 
>     Compress + Sign    or
>     Sign + Compress
> 
>         and
> 
>     Compress + Sign + Encrypt   or
>     Sign + Compress + Encrypt
> 
> Different companies have presented valid business cases for each
> alternative.
> 
> The advocates for Signing first desire the signature to be over
> readable text (you know what you are signing -- which is why we never
> Sign after Encrypting).
> 
> The advocates for Compressing first desire performance improvements.
> In this case, Compression is compared as just another encoding scheme
> so it is really still plain text.
> 
> Discussions thus far have resulted in a consensus that the
> implementors should be able to apply these functions in either order
> when sending.  When receiving, the implementations should be able to
> process either case.
> 
> We are looking for further discussions. . .
> 
> Regards,
> 
> David Fischer
> Drummond Group.

-- 
----------- 
Joe McVerry
American Coders Ltd.
POBox 97462
Raleigh, NC   27624  USA
919.846.2014 (voice/fax)
http://www.americancoders.com
Home Of OBOE - an EDI and EDI/XML Translator
    and xBaseJ - xBase Database Engine For Java