[PLUG-TALK] Russian doll time delay encryption (coast to coast ping time)

[Keith Lofstrom]

On Thu, May 21, 2015 at 12:08:12AM -0700, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> What is the fastest measured coast-to-coast ping time?

Rich asked "why" ...

1st) I'm working on Server Sky, a different kind of satellite
internet system which will have 50 msec latency.  I want an
illustrative comparison for a conference paper I'm writing.


2nd) A reliable way of delaying the decryption of a message
until a specific time in the future, which I call the Russian
doll time capsule (and presumably someone else has already
thought of).

A trillion public key encryption pairs are generated.  Each
of the trillion private keys are encrypted with the prior
public key, and divided into multiple stores, which are
then physically distributed circumferentially by timezone,
around the world.  The generation hardware is vaporized.

Each private key is decrypted when the prior private key is
revealed and propagates at lightspeed from the prior store
in the chain, perhaps 10 milliseconds away.  100 private keys
are revealed every second (perhaps 4 circumferential trips
around the earth), at a rate limited by physics.  If hardware
improves, routes straighten, or lower index fiber is used,
add some counter delay.  If a prior store reveals a
millisecond early, add more counter delay at the next store.  
The system will not be millisecond-accurate, but one second
accuracy is likely.

Lots of elaboration and gingerbread and limited-function
application-specific digital hardware to separate control
of the keys, maintain physical security and redundancy, etc.
No programmable hardware or general purpose CPUs - physical
logic encoded in open source silicon, full engineering plans
and samples available for teardown and reverse engineering.

If Jane Q. Public wants a secret revealed in 30 years, she
encrypts it with public key number 94,672,800,000 + (current
reveal number).  Unless all the participants cheat and bring
copies of their physical nodes close together, Jane can rely
on 30 lightyears of delay (about 3.8 billion trips around the
earth) before the appearance of the associated private key.

Faster loops with quicker cadences are possible, but there
is nothing like physics, international distrust, and a liquid
iron planetary core to discourage crosslinks and collusion.


3) And why do I want this?  Guatemala has suffered greatly
from genocide and internal conflict.  Tensions are still
subsiding.  I would like a trustworthy system for elders
to record their memories of La Violencia for posterity,
without risking their children should the troubles return. 
These memories, especially the memories of the perpetrators,
should not go the grave unrecorded.

IRA partisans attempted to leave similar records, stored at
Boston University with promises of secrecy for life, but UK
and US governmental pressure opened the archives and put
the partisans in prison.  Perhaps they deserved prison, but
without their frank testimony, we will not understand their
justifications, and we will not learn how to short circuit
similar justifications in the future.  

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com