Encrypt/Decrypt arbitrary text using bitcoin keys?

[etotheipi]

So I misread the specification originally: NIST and SECG actually make no reference to encryption/decryption or signing/verification in their specification:

"NIST Recommended Elliptic Curves for Government Use"
http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/ST/toolkit/documents/dss/NISTReCur.pdf

and

"SEC 2: Recommended Elliptic Curve Domain Parameters"
http://www.secg.org/collateral/sec2_final.pdf  (secp256k1 defined here)

They simply recommend elliptic curves and provide the associated parameters needed for implementation.  These curves can be used with any EC-based algorithms, including ECDSA and ECIES.

[phelix]

Has anybody given some more thought to this?

[phelix]

Has anybody given some more thought to this?

As it turns out, yes.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128230 (PyBitmessage)

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=145098 (three lines python script using PyBitmessage libs)