Invisible wrote:

> However, one might also conjecture that the probability of any two 
> arbitrary messages having the same [MD5] hash code would be 2^(-128).

Random fact:

2^(-128) ~= 2.93 * 10^(-39)

Winning the National Lottery (assuming you only bought 1 ticket) has a 
probability of roughly 7.15 * 10^(-8).

If my arithmetic is right, that means that winning the National Lottery 
jackpot 5 times back-to-back is still more than 637 times *more* likely 
than something with a probability of 2^(-128) happening.

Assuming the probability of a random file mutation leaving the MD5 hash 
unchanged really *is* 2^(-128), it's a pretty unlikely event. You should 
probably worry more about the building being burned to the ground...

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