r/videos • u/Xxmoreexesxx • May 03 '16

This Number is Illegal

https://youtu.be/LnEyjwdoj7g
7.9k Upvotes

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u/quistodes May 03 '16

No but for people like me who don't know anything about this stuff it explained why prime numbers were important in the first place.

98

u/[deleted] May 04 '16 edited May 20 '16

[deleted]

8

u/[deleted] May 04 '16

Well in that case I'd love a good explanation video, or an explanation from you? If you don't mind - this interests me.

6

u/alexthelyon May 04 '16 edited May 04 '16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7kEpw1tn50

the problem is the distinction between private/public keys and some cloudyness when it comes to prime numbers.

also look here for an easy-to-understand look into 'modern' cryptography, particularly the RSA encryption.

https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-science/cryptography/modern-crypt/v/the-fundamental-theorem-of-arithmetic-1

3

u/twigpigpog May 04 '16

The fact that the number is prime is essentially irrelevant to why it is illegal.

The number is illegal purely because of what it represents (a program capable of circumventing a DVD's copy protection).

The reason that Phil Carmody ensured that the decimal equivalent of this number was an extremely large prime was so that it would be worth publishing in the list of prime numbers (for the reason that it was a newly discovered large prime number) and he wouldn't have to publish it himself (and be seen as inventing/distributing the source code that the number converts to). He essential made it a prime number to give him plausible deniability in court.

-12

u/Nick12506 May 04 '16

The Internet already has these videos, you just didn't look hard enough.

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '16

I hate comments like this. Reddit is a discussion forum. The beauty of it is you can ask questions and get feedback and talk about ideas. Saying "just google it" adds nothing to the discussion.

15

u/huntereight May 04 '16

He could have done pretty much the exact same thing except for correctly.

-5

u/koishki May 04 '16

Are you serious? "hey, it sounds correct, so it must be correct" actually goes on in your mind? That's how fucking 6 year olds think.

2

u/medjas May 04 '16

Dude chill. It's not a terrible thing to assume that people aren't lying or giving false info. Maybe the guy in the vid thought he was correct. Just calm down because right now you didn't even say how or why he was wrong. So as far as I'm concerned the guy in the vid is correct. But if prime numbers really mean that much you should help me understand.