[sapote]

"The anti-use would be in any sort of cryptographic implementation, since any "entropy" you'd be gaining by using this data as a source of randomness is completely counteracted by the fact that the source is known. Randomness becomes deterministic once the source of the randomness is disclosed and broadcast ... "

In this design, that's true. But Rabin's hyper-encryption is an example of how a strongly secure encryption system can be built using a very high-bandwidth source of public randomness.

[oh_sigh]

Part of hyper encryption strength is derived from assuming that the public randomness cannot be recorded due to cost. This beacon only emits 512 bits every 60s, so that is easily recordable.