This paper considers the problem of perfectly secure communication on a modified version of Wyner's wiretap channel II where both the main and wiretapper's channels have some erasures. A secret message is to be encoded into $n$ channel symbols and transmitted. The main channel is such that the legitimate receiver receives the transmitted codeword with exactly $n - ν$ erasures, where the positions of the erasures are random. Additionally, an eavesdropper (wire-tapper) is able to observe the transmitted codeword with $n - μ$ erasures in a similar fashion. This paper studies the maximum achievable information rate with perfect secrecy on this channel and gives a coding scheme using nested codes that achieves the secrecy capacity.
For an arbitrary degree distribution pair (DDP), we construct a sequence of low-density parity-check (LDPC) code ensembles with girth growing logarithmically in block-length using Ramanujan graphs. When the DDP has minimum left degree at least three, we show using density evolution analysis that the expected bit-error probability of these ensembles, when passed through a binary erasure channel with erasure probability $ε$, decays as $\mathcal{O}(\exp(-c_1 n^{c_2}))$ with the block-length $n$ for positive constants $c_1$ and $c_2$, as long as $ε$ is lesser than the erasure threshold $ε_\mathrm{…
We show that duals of certain low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, when used in a standard coset coding scheme, provide strong secrecy over the binary erasure wiretap channel (BEWC). This result hinges on a stopping set analysis of ensembles of LDPC codes with block length $n$ and girth $\geq 2k$, for some $k \geq 2$. We show that if the minimum left degree of the ensemble is $l_\mathrm{min}$, the expected probability of block error is $\calO(\frac{1}{n^{\lceil l_\mathrm{min} k /2 \rceil - k}})$ when the erasure probability $ε< ε_\mathrm{ef}$, where $ε_\mathrm{ef}$ depends on the degree dist…
We study oblivious transfer (OT) between Alice and Bob in the presence of an eavesdropper Eve over a degraded wiretapped binary erasure channel from Alice to Bob and Eve. In addition to the privacy goals of oblivious transfer between Alice and Bob, we require privacy of Alice and Bob's private data from Eve. In previous work we derived the OT capacity (in the honest-but-curious model) of the wiretapped binary independent erasure channel where the erasure processes of Bob and Eve are independent. Here we derive a lower bound on the OT capacity in the same secrecy model when the wiretapped binar…
MDS array codes are widely used in storage systems to protect data against erasures. We address the \emph{rebuilding ratio} problem, namely, in the case of erasures, what is the fraction of the remaining information that needs to be accessed in order to rebuild \emph{exactly} the lost information? It is clear that when the number of erasures equals the maximum number of erasures that an MDS code can correct then the rebuilding ratio is 1 (access all the remaining information). However, the interesting and more practical case is when the number of erasures is smaller than the erasure correcting…
Maximum distance separable (MDS) array codes are XOR-based optimal erasure codes that are particularly suitable for use in disk arrays. This paper develops an innovative method to build MDS array codes from an elegant class of nested graphs, termed \textit{complete-graph-of-rings (CGR)}. We discuss a systematic and concrete way to transfer these graphs to array codes, unveil an interesting relation between the proposed map and the renowned perfect 1-factorization, and show that the proposed CGR codes subsume B-codes as their "contracted" codes. These new codes, termed \textit{CGR codes}, and t…
We introduce a definition for \emph{Families of Optimal Binary Non-MDS Erasure Codes} for $[n, k]$ codes over $GF(2)$, and propose an algorithm for finding those families by using hill climbing techniques over Balanced XOR codes. Due to the hill climbing search, those families of codes have always better decoding probability than the codes generated in a typical Random Linear Network Coding scenario, i.e., random linear codes. We also show a surprising result that for small values of $k$, the decoding probability of our codes in $GF(2)$ is very close to the decoding probability of the codes ob…
Partial MDS (PMDS) and sector-disk (SD) codes are classes of erasure codes that combine locality with strong erasure correction capabilities. We construct PMDS and SD codes where each local code is a bandwidth-optimal regenerating MDS code. The constructions require significantly smaller field size than the only other construction known in literature.
MDS array codes are widely used in storage systems due to their computationally efficient encoding and decoding procedures. An MDS code with $r$ redundancy nodes can correct any $r$ node erasures by accessing all the remaining information in the surviving nodes. However, in practice, $e$ erasures is a more likely failure event, for $1\le e<r$. Hence, a natural question is how much information do we need to access in order to rebuild $e$ storage nodes? We define the rebuilding ratio as the fraction of remaining information accessed during the rebuilding of $e$ erasures. In our previous work we …
We consider oblivious transfer between Alice and Bob in the presence of an eavesdropper Eve when there is a broadcast channel from Alice to Bob and Eve. In addition to the secrecy constraints of Alice and Bob, Eve should not learn the private data of Alice and Bob. When the broadcast channel consists of two independent binary erasure channels, we derive the oblivious transfer capacity for both 2-privacy (where the eavesdropper may collude with either party) and 1-privacy (where there are no collusions).
An erasure channel with a fixed alphabet size $q$, where $q \gg 1$, is studied. It is proved that over any erasure channel (with or without memory), Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) codes achieve the minimum probability of error (assuming maximum likelihood decoding). Assuming a memoryless erasure channel, the error exponent of MDS codes are compared with that of random codes and linear random codes. It is shown that the envelopes of all these exponents are identical for rates above the critical rate. Noting the optimality of MDS codes, it is concluded that both random codes and linear random …
MDS array codes are widely used in storage systems to protect data against erasures. We address the \emph{rebuilding ratio} problem, namely, in the case of erasures, what is the the fraction of the remaining information that needs to be accessed in order to rebuild \emph{exactly} the lost information? It is clear that when the number of erasures equals the maximum number of erasures that an MDS code can correct then the rebuilding ratio is 1 (access all the remaining information). However, the interesting (and more practical) case is when the number of erasures is smaller than the erasure corr…
We consider {\it i)} the overhead minimization of maximum-distance separable (MDS) storage codes for the repair of a single failed node and {\it ii)} the total secure degrees-of-freedom (S-DoF) maximization in a multiple-access compound wiretap channel. We show that the two problems are connected. Specifically, the overhead minimization for a single node failure of an {\it optimal} MDS code, i.e. one that can achieve the information theoretic overhead minimum, is equivalent to maximizing the S-DoF in a multiple-access compound wiretap channel. Additionally, we show that maximizing the S-DoF in…
In this paper, we study the problem of the 1-of-2 string oblivious transfer (OT) between Alice and Bob in the presence of a passive eavesdropper Eve. The eavesdropper Eve is not allowed to get any information about the private data of Alice or Bob. When Alice and Bob are honest-but-curious users, we propose a protocol that satisfies $1$-private (neither Alice nor Bob colludes with Eve) OT requirements for the binary erasure symmetric broadcast channel, in which the channel provides dependent erasure patterns to Bob and Eve. We find that when the erasure probabilities satisfy certain conditions…
MDS codes are erasure-correcting codes that can correct the maximum number of erasures for a given number of redundancy or parity symbols. If an MDS code has $r$ parities and no more than $r$ erasures occur, then by transmitting all the remaining data in the code, the original information can be recovered. However, it was shown that in order to recover a single symbol erasure, only a fraction of $1/r$ of the information needs to be transmitted. This fraction is called the repair bandwidth (fraction). Explicit code constructions were given in previous works. If we view each symbol in the code a…
Partial MDS (PMDS) and sector-disk (SD) codes are classes of erasure correcting codes that combine locality with strong erasure correction capabilities. We construct PMDS and SD codes with local regeneration where each local code is a bandwidth-optimal regenerating MDS code. In the event of a node failure, these codes reduce both, the number of servers that have to be contacted as well as the amount of network traffic required for the repair process. The constructions require significantly smaller field size than the only other construction known in literature. Further, we present a constructi…
We consider non-binary product codes with MDS components and their iterative row-column algebraic decoding on the erasure channel. Both independent and block erasures are considered in this paper. A compact graph representation is introduced on which we define double-diversity edge colorings via the rootcheck concept. An upper bound of the number of decoding iterations is given as a function of the graph size and the color palette size $M$. Stopping sets are defined in the context of MDS components and a relationship is established with the graph representation. A full characterization of thes…
This paper investigates the use of redundancy and self repairing against node failures in distributed storage systems, using various strategies. In replication method, access to one replication node is sufficient to reconstruct a lost node, while in MDS erasure coded systems which are optimal in terms of redundancy-reliability tradeoff, a single node failure is repaired after recovering the entire stored data. Moreover, regenerating codes yield a tradeoff curve between storage capacity and repair bandwidth. The current paper aims at investigating a new storage code. Specifically, we propose a …
Partial-MDS (PMDS) codes are a family of locally repairable codes, mainly used for distributed storage. They are defined to be able to correct any pattern of $s$ additional erasures, after a given number of erasures per locality group have occurred. This makes them also maximally recoverable (MR) codes, another class of locally repairable codes. It is known that MR codes in general, and PMDS codes in particular, exist for any set of parameters, if the field size is large enough. Moreover, some explicit constructions of PMDS codes are known, mostly (but not always) with a strong restriction on …
Partial MDS (PMDS) codes are erasure codes combining local (row) correction with global additional correction of entries, while Sector-Disk (SD) codes are erasure codes that address the mixed failure mode of current RAID systems. It has been an open problem to construct general codes that have the PMDS and the SD properties, and previous work has relied on Monte-Carlo searches. In this paper, we present a general construction that addresses the case of any number of failed disks and in addition, two erased sectors. The construction requires a modest field size. This result generalizes previous…
We show that polar codes asymptotically achieve the whole capacity-equivocation region for the wiretap channel when the wiretapper's channel is degraded with respect to the main channel, and the weak secrecy notion is used. Our coding scheme also achieves the capacity of the physically degraded receiver-orthogonal relay channel. We show simulation results for moderate block length for the binary erasure wiretap channel, comparing polar codes and two edge type LDPC codes.
This paper presents a new technique for providing the analysis and comparison of wiretap codes in the small blocklength regime over the binary erasure wiretap channel. A major result is the development of Monte Carlo strategies for quantifying a code's equivocation, which mirrors techniques used to analyze normal error correcting codes. For this paper, we limit our analysis to coset-based wiretap codes, and make several comparisons of different code families at small and medium blocklengths. Our results indicate that there are security advantages to using specific codes when using small to med…
In order to scale economically, data centers are increasingly evolving their data storage methods from the use of simple data replication to the use of more powerful erasure codes, which provide the same level of reliability as replication but at a significantly lower storage cost. In particular, it is well known that Maximum-Distance-Separable (MDS) codes, such as Reed-Solomon codes, provide the maximum storage efficiency. While the use of codes for providing improved reliability in archival storage systems, where the data is less frequently accessed (or so-called "cold data"), is well unders…
We consider the following generalization of an $(n,k)$ MDS code for application to an erasure channel with additive noise. Like an MDS code, our code is required to be decodable from any $k$ received symbols, in the absence of noise. In addition, we require that the noise margin for every allowable erasure pattern be as large as possible and that the code satisfy a power constraint. In this paper we derive performance bounds and present a few designs for low rank lattice codes for an additive noise channel with erasures.
This paper studies the decoding capabilities of maximum distance profile (MDP) convolutional codes over the erasure channel and compares them with the decoding capabilities of MDS block codes over the same channel. The erasure channel involving large alphabets is an important practical channel model when studying packet transmissions over a network, e.g, the Internet.
This paper presents a new construction of error correcting codes which achieves optimal recovery of a streaming source over a packet erasure channel. The channel model considered is the sliding window erasure model, with burst and arbitrary losses, introduced by Badr et al. . Recently, two independents works by Fong et al. and Krishnan and Kumar have identified optimal streaming codes within this framework. In this paper, we introduce streaming code when the rate of the code is at least 1/2. Our proposed construction is explicit and systematic, uses off-the-shelf maximum distance separable (MD…
New upper and lower bounds for the error probability over an erasure channel are provided, making use of Wei's generalized weights, hierarchy and spectra. In many situations the upper and lower bounds coincide and this allows improvement of existing bounds. Results concerning MDS and AMDS codes are deduced from those bounds.
In this paper we introduce a novel MDS array code with lowest density. In contrast to existing codes, this one has no restrictions on the size or the number of erasures it can correct. It is based on a simple matrix construction involving totally nonsingular matrices. We also introduce a simple decoding algorithm based on the structure of the code.
In this paper we study the decoding capabilities of convolutional codes over the erasure channel. Of special interest will be maximum distance profile (MDP) convolutional codes. These are codes which have a maximum possible column distance increase. We show how this strong minimum distance condition of MDP convolutional codes help us to solve error situations that maximum distance separable (MDS) block codes fail to solve. Towards this goal, we define two subclasses of MDP codes: reverse-MDP convolutional codes and complete-MDP convolutional codes. Reverse-MDP codes have the capability to reco…
Recently, error correcting codes in the erasure channel have drawn great attention for various applications such as distributed storage systems and wireless sensor networks, but many of their decoding algorithms are not practical because they have higher decoding complexity and longer delay. Thus, the automorphism group decoder (AGD) for cyclic codes in the erasure channel was introduced, which has good erasure decoding performance with low decoding complexity. In this paper, we propose new two-stage AGDs (TS-AGDs) for cyclic codes in the erasure channel by modifying the parity check matrix an…
In this paper we introduce a lowest density MDS array code which is applied to a Smart Meter network to introduce reliability. By treating the network as distributed storage with multiple sources, information can be exchanged between the nodes in the network allowing each node to store parity symbols relating to data from other nodes. A lowest density MDS array code is then applied to make the network robust against outages, ensuring low overhead and data transfers. We show the minimum amount of overhead required to be able to recover from r node erasures in an n node network and explicitly de…
An $(m,n,a,b)$-tensor code consists of $m\times n$ matrices whose columns satisfy `$a$' parity checks and rows satisfy `$b$' parity checks (i.e., a tensor code is the tensor product of a column code and row code). Tensor codes are useful in distributed storage because a single erasure can be corrected quickly either by reading its row or column. Maximally Recoverable (MR) Tensor Codes, introduced by Gopalan et al., are tensor codes which can correct every erasure pattern that is information theoretically possible to correct. The main questions about MR Tensor Codes are characterizing which era…
We consider transmission over a wiretap channel where both the main channel and the wiretapper's channel are Binary Erasure Channels (BEC). We use convolutional LDPC ensembles based on the coset encoding scheme. More precisely, we consider regular two edge type convolutional LDPC ensembles. We show that such a construction achieves the whole rate-equivocation region of the BEC wiretap channel. Convolutional LDPC ensemble were introduced by Felström and Zigangirov and are known to have excellent thresholds. Recently, Kudekar, Richardson, and Urbanke proved that the phenomenon of "Spatial Coupli…
Coded computation is a framework which provides redundancy in distributed computing systems to speed up largescale tasks. Although most existing works assume an error-free scenarios in a master-worker setup, the link failures are common in current wired/wireless networks. In this paper, we consider the straggler problem in coded distributed computing with link failures, by modeling the links between the master node and worker nodes as packet erasure channels. When the master fails to detect the received signal, retransmission is required for each worker which increases the overall run-time to …
Accessing the data in the failed disk (degraded read) with low latency is crucial for an erasure-coded storage system. In this work, the maximum distance separable (MDS) array code with the property of degraded-read friendly (DRF) is discussed. For the DRF MDS array code with 2 redundant nodes and the sub-packetization level of 2, the lower bound of its access bandwidth is derived.
Information leakage in Wyner's wiretap channel model is usually defined as the mutual information between the secret message and the eavesdropper's received signal. We define a new quantity called "conditional information leakage given the eavesdropper's received signals," which expresses the amount of information that eavesdropper gains from his/her received signal. A benefit of introducing this quantity is that we can develop a fast algorithm for computing the conditional information leakage, which has linear complexity in the code length $n$, while the complexity for computing the usual inf…
In a distributed storage system based on erasure coding, an important problem is the \emph{repair problem}: If a node storing a coded piece fails, in order to maintain the same level of reliability, we need to create a new encoded piece and store it at a new node. This paper presents a construction of systematic $(n,k)$-MDS codes for $2k\le n$ that achieves the minimum repair bandwidth when repairing from $k+1$ nodes.
With the advent of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems, perfect (i.e. information-theoretic) security can now be achieved for distribution of a cryptographic key. QKD systems and similar protocols use classical error-correcting codes for both error correction (for the honest parties to correct errors) and privacy amplification (to make an eavesdropper fully ignorant). From a coding perspective, a good model that corresponds to such a setting is the wire tap channel introduced by Wyner in 1975. In this paper, we study fundamental limits and coding methods for wire tap channels. We provide an…
In distributed storage, erasure codes -- like Reed-Solomon Codes -- are often employed to provide reliability. In this setting, it is desirable to be able to repair one or more failed nodes while minimizing the repair bandwidth. In this work, motivated by Reed-Solomon codes, we study the problem of repairing multiple failed nodes in a scalar MDS code. We extend the framework of (Guruswami and Wootters, 2017) to give a framework for constructing repair schemes for multiple failures in general scalar MDS codes, in the centralized repair model. We then specialize our framework to Reed-Solomon cod…
Streaming codes are a class of packet-level erasure codes that are designed with the goal of ensuring recovery in low-latency fashion, of erased packets over a communication network. It is well-known in the streaming code literature, that diagonally embedding codewords of a $[τ+1,τ+1-a]$ Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) code within the packet stream, leads to rate-optimal streaming codes capable of recovering from $a$ arbitrary packet erasures, under a strict decoding delay constraint $τ$. Thus MDS codes are geared towards the efficient handling of the worst-case scenario corresponding to the …
This paper presents a new construction of Maximum-Distance Separable (MDS) Reed-Solomon erasure codes based on Fermat Number Transform (FNT). Thanks to FNT, these codes support practical coding and decoding algorithms with complexity O(n log n), where n is the number of symbols of a codeword. An open-source implementation shows that the encoding speed can reach 150Mbps for codes of length up to several 10,000s of symbols. These codes can be used as the basic component of the Information Dispersal Algorithm (IDA) system used in a several P2P systems.
The high repair cost of (n,k) Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) erasure codes has recently motivated a new class of codes, called Regenerating Codes, that optimally trade off storage cost for repair bandwidth. In this paper, we address bandwidth-optimal (n,k,d) Exact-Repair MDS codes, which allow for any failed node to be repaired exactly with access to arbitrary d survivor nodes, where k<=d<=n-1. We show the existence of Exact-Repair MDS codes that achieve minimum repair bandwidth (matching the cutset lower bound) for arbitrary admissible (n,k,d), i.e., k<n and k<=d<=n-1. Our approach is based…
In this work, we investigate the problem of secure broadcasting over block-fading wiretap channels with limited channel knowledge at the transmitter. More particularly, we analyze the effect of having a finite rate feedback on the throughput of multi-user broadcast wiretap channels. We consider that the transmitter is only provided by a $b$-bits feedback of the main channel state information (CSI) sent by each legitimate receiver, at the beginning of each fading block, over error-free public links with limited capacity. Also, we assume that the transmitter is aware of the statistics of the eav…
This paper derives upper and lower bounds on the secrecy capacity-memory tradeoff of a wiretap erasure broadcast channel (BC) with Kw weak receivers and Ks strong receivers, where weak receivers, respectively strong receivers, have same erasure probabilities and cache sizes. The lower bounds are achieved by schemes that meticulously combine joint cache-channel coding with wiretap coding and key-aided one-time pads. The presented upper bound holds more generally for arbitrary degraded BCs and arbitrary cache sizes. When only weak receivers have cache memories, upper and lower bounds coincide fo…
The problem of securing a network coding communication system against a wiretapper adversary is considered. The network implements linear network coding to deliver $n$ packets from source to each receiver, and the wiretapper can eavesdrop on $μ$ arbitrarily chosen links. A coding scheme is proposed that can achieve the maximum possible rate of $k=n-μ$ packets that are information-theoretically secure from the adversary. A distinctive feature of our scheme is that it is universal: it can be applied on top of any communication network without requiring knowledge of or any modifications on the un…
Streaming codes represent a packet-level FEC scheme for achieving reliable, low-latency communication. In the literature on streaming codes, the commonly-assumed Gilbert-Elliott channel model, is replaced by a more tractable, delay-constrained, sliding-window (DCSW) channel model that can introduce either random or burst erasures. The known streaming codes that are rate optimal over the DCSW channel model are constructed by diagonally embedding a scalar block code across successive packets. These code constructions have field size that is quadratic in the delay parameter $τ$ and have a somewha…
This work investigates the secrecy capacity of the Wiretap Broadcast Channel (WBC) with an external eavesdropper where a source wishes to communicate two private messages over a Broadcast Channel (BC) while keeping them secret from the eavesdropper. We derive a non-trivial outer bound on the secrecy capacity region of this channel which, in absence of security constraints, reduces to the best known outer bound to the capacity of the standard BC. An inner bound is also derived which follows the behavior of both the best known inner bound for the BC and the Wiretap Channel. These bounds are show…
In distributed storage systems that employ erasure coding, the issue of minimizing the total {\it communication} required to exactly rebuild a storage node after a failure arises. This repair bandwidth depends on the structure of the storage code and the repair strategies used to restore the lost data. Designing high-rate maximum-distance separable (MDS) codes that achieve the optimum repair communication has been a well-known open problem. In this work, we use Hadamard matrices to construct the first explicit 2-parity MDS storage code with optimal repair properties for all single node failure…
Erasure codes are increasingly being studied in the context of implementing atomic memory objects in large scale asynchronous distributed storage systems. When compared with the traditional replication based schemes, erasure codes have the potential of significantly lowering storage and communication costs while simultaneously guaranteeing the desired resiliency levels. In this work, we propose the Storage-Optimized Data-Atomic (SODA) algorithm for implementing atomic memory objects in the multi-writer multi-reader setting. SODA uses Maximum Distance Separable (MDS) codes, and is specifically …
We consider the problem of polar coding for secure communications over the two-way wiretap channel, where two legitimate users communicate with each other simultaneously while a passive eavesdropper overhears a combination of their exchanged signals. The legitimate users wish to design a cooperative jamming code such that the interference between their codewords can jam the eavesdropper. In this paper, we design a polar coded cooperative jamming scheme that achieves the whole secrecy rate region of the general two-way wiretap channel under the strong secrecy criterion. The chaining method is u…
A systematic convolutional encoder of rate $(n-1)/n$ and maximum degree $D$ generates a code of free distance at most ${\cal D} = D+2$ and, at best, a column distance profile (CDP) of $[2,3,\ldots,{\cal D}]$. A code is \emph{Maximum Distance Separable} (MDS) if it possesses this CDP. Applied on a communication channel over which packets are transmitted sequentially and which loses (erases) packets randomly, such a code allows the recovery from any pattern of $j$ erasures in the first $j$ $n$-packet blocks for $j<{\cal D}$, with a delay of at most $j$ blocks counting from the first erasure. Thi…
Minimum-Storage Regenerating (MSR) codes have emerged as a viable alternative to Reed-Solomon (RS) codes as they minimize the repair bandwidth while they are still optimal in terms of reliability and storage overhead. Although several MSR constructions exist, so far they have not been practically implemented mainly due to the big number of I/O operations. In this paper, we analyze high-rate MDS codes that are simultaneously optimized in terms of storage, reliability, I/O operations, and repair-bandwidth for single and multiple failures of the systematic nodes. The codes were recently introduce…
In this paper, we consider a semi-deterministic wiretap channel where the main channel is noiseless and the eavesdropper's channel is a binary erasure channel (BEC). We provide a lower bound for the achievable secrecy rates of polar and Reed Muller codes and compare it to the second order coding rate for the semi-deterministic wiretap channel. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work which demonstrates the secrecy performance of polar and Reed-Muller codes in short blocklengths. The results show that under a total variation secrecy metric, Reed Muller codes can achieve secrecy rate…
This paper presents a polar coding scheme to achieve secrecy in block fading binary symmetric wiretap channels without the knowledge of instantaneous channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter. For this model, a coding scheme that hierarchically utilizes polar codes is presented. In particular, on polarization of different binary symmetric channels over different fading blocks, each channel use is modeled as an appropriate binary erasure channel over fading blocks. Polar codes are constructed for both coding over channel uses for each fading block and coding over fading blocks for cert…
Belief propagation or message passing on binary erasure channels (BEC) is a low complexity decoding algorithm that allows the recovery of message symbols based on bipartite graph prunning process. Recently, array XOR codes have attracted attention for storage systems due to their burst error recovery performance and easy arithmetic based on Exclusive OR (XOR)-only logic operations. Array BP-XOR codes are a subclass of array XOR codes that can be decoded using BP under BEC. Requiring the capability of BP-decodability in addition to Maximum Distance Separability (MDS) constraint on the code cons…