For instance, requiring encryption software and hardware makers to hold a decoding key in "key escrow" is the equivalent of asking a bank to hold an extra set of safe-deposit-box keys.

CNN: Rewriting the fourth amendment

The color, shape and some inactive ingredients in the pills might be different, but generics must contain the same key ingredient and prove to be equivalent in order to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

WSJ: A Users' Guide as Generic Lipitor Goes on Sale

The ability to take risky bets is actually what researchers at Cambridge University identified to be the key differentiator among entrepreneurs and people of equivalent IQ and experience that find success in the corporate world.

FORBES: How to Train Your Mind to Become Entrepreneurial

The move towards an equivalent of America's earned-income tax credit (a key part of the fairness programme, albeit borrowed from the wrong side) does make sense.

ECONOMIST: Britain's budget

The country's Constitutional Council, the equivalent of America's Supreme Court, has just ruled against a key part of his plan to devolve legislative power to the perpetually troubled island of Corsica.

ECONOMIST: France's Constitutional Council

As part of the benchmark, vocational qualifications such as BTecs and NVQs, taken in Key Stage 4 by 14- to 16-year-olds, are given equivalent scores to GCSEs and included in the five GCSEs score.

BBC: Guide: Secondary league tables

In some ways, the current shift in computing is the equivalent of what happened when cars became easy to use and drivers only had to turn the key instead of having to hand-crank the engines.

ECONOMIST: Moving up the stack