[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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