Selecting cipher to generate a key pair

[Robert J. Hansen]

John W. Moore III wrote:
> Riddle Me this, Robert; _if_ "The Customer" has a requirement that
> 3DES must be used [and they are associating it with their Key] then
> wouldn't this mean that the *only* preference broadcast by their Key
> is 3DES?

You're assuming the customer's key is correctly advertising their
preferences.  If their proprietary implemention is a shoddy one, then
maybe it advertises capabilities they don't really have.

> If this is the case then wouldn't GPG automatically select this
> cipher algorithm by default as the only compatible one between the
> two parties?

You'd hope so, yes -- but I think we might want to consider the
possibility the customer's implementation is terribly broken.