On: GSM encryption broken

[moe]

a large look-up table1 of approximately 2 Terabytes - this is equivalent to the amount of data contained in a 20 kilometre high pile of books

I don't understand. Can someone please translate to libraries of congress?

[paulbaumgart → moe]

I agree... it's a ridiculous description, and obviously the point is to confuse a less technical person into thinking 2 TB requires more than a single top-of-the-line HDD to store.

[kroo → moe]

Taking your request literally, 2 terabytes is equivalent to (roughly) one-37th of the currently-digitized items in the printed collection in the Library of Congress. Good day. :)

( citation: http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2009/02/how-big-is-the-library-of-c... -- an interesting read on its own, as estimates of "libraries of congress" seem to wildly differ.)