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As described in section 3.2, when a
document is successfully published a copy of the
encrypted document and a share are stored on each
of the n servers. Only one copy of the encrypted
document and k shares are required to recover the
original document.
Clearly, if all n copies of the encrypted file are
deleted, corrupted or otherwise unretrievable then
it is impossible to recover the original document.
Similarly if n-k+1 shares are deleted, corrupted
or cannot be retrieved it is impossible to recover
the key. In either case the published document is
effectively censored. This naturally leads to the
conclusion that the more we increase n, or decrease
k, the harder we make it for an individual, or
group of individuals, to censor a published
document.
Avi Rubin
2000-06-13