Edge of factoring technology? Schneier in 1996's Applied Cryptography says: 

"Currently, a 129-decimal-digit
  modulus is at the edge of factoring
  technology"

In the intervening 15 years has anything much changed?

Well understanding, that your question targets the factorization problem: Guess the effective strength of public key cryptography lies in the method, i.e. that you can establish private sessions without preexisting secret. E.g. you could use a transient public key with ´sufficient´ length to exchange a secondary set of keys, which even the public key of is only known to your counterpart. So nobody else knows about a secondary modulus and there is no factorization problem, at all, as the ´man in the middle´ will see nothing but a stream of white noise.
