"Flaw Found in Quantum Code," by Charles Seife. Science, 16 May1997, page 1034.
"Quantum Cheating," by Ivars Peterson. Science News>, 14 June 1997, page373.
In recent years, researchers have been developing the notion of quantumcryptography, which they hope will provide more secure transmissions of data.Because one cannot observe a quantum mechanical particle without altering it,efforts by eavesdroppers to observe observe information encoded by the use ofquantum cryptographic methods would inevitably leave traces behind.Researchers have, however, hit a snag. Work of Dominic Mayers, Hoi-Kwong Lo,and H.F. Chau have shown that an important cryptographic method called "bitcommitment" can be easily compromised in the quantum setting.
--- Allyn Jackson