gnupg keysize

[Lowell Gilbert]

Peo Nilsson <per-olof.nilsson at comhem.se> writes:

> When browsing:
> http://www.gnupg.org/gph/en/manual.html#INTRO
>
> It says:
> "The size of a DSA key must be between 512 and 1024 bits".
> It also says:
> "The ElGamal key may be of any size".
>
> Who and why has defined this?

The OpenPGP standard.

[Actually, the history is a little more complicated than that, but
OpenPGP is the limiting factor at the moment.]

> In my opinion, the size of a key is a question for the user.

No one is forcing you to follow standards.
However, standards are useful when communicating with other people.