[Cryptography] NSA versus DES etc.... was: iOS 8

dan at geer.org dan at geer.org
Thu Sep 25 22:47:11 EDT 2014


 | > So no, I at least don't agree with Geer's argument, no matter that it was 
 | > well written.
 | 
 | Dan isn't making that argument, and I strongly doubt he subscribes to it.
 | He was hoping to provide a window into the rationale.

The argument in question is a permutation of this point:

   To prove a negative, that is to say to prove that XYZ did not happen,
   you must have a complete enumeration of everything that did happen
   as only in the presence of total surveillance is the absence of
   evidence equivalent to the evidence of absence.

I write that or something like it whenever I am commenting on
regulations that promise true love or happiness ever after if
only we were to prohibit certain happenings, icing that cake
with Dwight D. Eisenhower's words:

   If you want total security, go to prison.  There you're fed,
   clothed, given medical care and so on.  The only thing lacking
   is freedom.


--dan




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