What are fingerprints?

[Peter Schuller]

> fingerprints are something like a hash value of a key: A short, unique
> number. It is intended to use a fingerprint to verify that the key
> belongs to the user given in the Key ID: If you can communicate over a
> secure line, eg, via phone, you may compare the fingerprints of the
> key. Other possibility: The public key of a newspaper publisher: It may
> be printed in the newspaper, and you can simply check whether the public
> key from the keyserver is the correct one comparing the
> fingerprints. (You don't want to check the whole key, eve if it is
> printed out :-))

I've always wondered: how on earth can they be unique? Yes, a hashing
algorithm can make the hashes *almost* unique, but how can it be guaranteed
that no two keys have the same finger print? It must be impossible, since
there is no communication with a central server during key generation. Yet,
invarious documents on PGP, it is always stated that they finger prints are
indeed unique.

-- 
/ Peter Schuller

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