Gremlin wrote:
] The phaomnneil pweor of the hmuan mnid.
]
] Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
] deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod
] are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and
] lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a
] total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.
] Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
] lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
]
] Fcuknig amzanig, huh?

Ian Grigg pointed out on the cryptography list that this inner transposition technique could be used as a simple steganographic channel:
http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/msg00853.html

The suggestion was shortly followed by the following post from Peter Wayner:

Changing around the order of a list of items is a pretty cool way to hide information. You can hide about log_2(n!) bits of information in a list of n items. In the case of words, you can move around the inner letters as long as there are no duplicates.

If you want to experiment with the basic technique, check out this web page with an applet I wrote.

http://www.wayner.org/books/discrypt2/sorted.php

RE: naet ltilte ticrk!