Pure Python Data Mangling or Encrypting

[Grant Edwards]

On 2015-06-24, Randall Smith <randall at tnr.cc> wrote:
> On 06/24/2015 01:29 PM, Grant Edwards wrote:
>> On 2015-06-24, Randall Smith <randall at tnr.cc> wrote:
>>> On 06/24/2015 06:36 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>>>
>>>> I don't understand how mangling the data is supposed to protect the
>>>> recipient. Don't they have the ability unmangle the data, and thus
>>>> expose themselves to whatever nasties are in the files?
>>>
>>> They never look at the data and wouldn't care to unmangle it.
>>
>> I obviously don't "get it". If the recipient is never going look at
>> the data or unmangle it, why not convert every received file to a
>> single null byte?  That way you save on disk space as well --
>> especially if you just create links for all files after the initial
>> one.  ;)
>
> These are machines storing chunks of other people's data.  The data 
> owner chunks a file, compresses and encrypts it, then sends it to 
> several storage servers.  The storage server might be a Raspberry PI 
> with a USB disk or a Windows XP machine - I can't know which.

OK.  But if the recipient (the server) mangles the data and then never
unmangles or reads the data, there doesn't seem to be any point in
storing it.  I must be misunderstanding your statement that the data
is never read/unmangled.

-- 
Grant Edwards               grant.b.edwards        Yow! A can of ASPARAGUS,
                                  at               73 pigeons, some LIVE ammo,
                              gmail.com            and a FROZEN DAQUIRI!!