1. Formal Spec: You're right. A formal specification is the top priority. We released the code first as a concrete artifact to invite this exact kind of direct scrutiny.
0. Process: Our focus is on the technical merits of the work itself.
2. Encryption Speed: The process is computationally symmetric. Encryption is not slower than decryption. For each block, both operations perform one permutation and the navigation/state-update hashes.
3. Collisions & Key Reuse: This is the crucial distinction. A geometric path collision (e.g., L-R-L) is common and harmless. A catastrophic round key collision is what we prevent. The key for each round is derived from (master_key, state, node_nonce). Since the state is a cryptographic ratchet of the entire history and the node_nonce is unique to the position in the Labyrinth, a key-reusing state collision is cryptographically negligible.
0. Process: Our focus is on the technical merits of the work itself.
2. Encryption Speed: The process is computationally symmetric. Encryption is not slower than decryption. For each block, both operations perform one permutation and the navigation/state-update hashes.
3. Collisions & Key Reuse: This is the crucial distinction. A geometric path collision (e.g., L-R-L) is common and harmless. A catastrophic round key collision is what we prevent. The key for each round is derived from (master_key, state, node_nonce). Since the state is a cryptographic ratchet of the entire history and the node_nonce is unique to the position in the Labyrinth, a key-reusing state collision is cryptographically negligible.