[Cryptography] Proof that the NSA does not have a quantum computer capable of attacking public key crypto (yet)

[Darkpassenger]

On 2016-02-09 20:49, Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote:

> C,D) it follows that the NSA is not capable of breaking bitcoin
> 
> Therefore NSA does not have a quantum computer (yet).
> _______________________________________________

argumentatively even if NSA hasnt cracked bitcoin , it necessarily 
doesnt guarantee , and therefore a "proof" of not having Q capabilities 
. additionally here are basic counterarguments :
- if q machinery was to build and put to use , they are people who have 
the budget , talent resource , political and societal means to do it .
- the corrupt govt cases prove , if anything , the hunger and risk 
taking nature of the environment . advancements happen in those criteria 
. some nerd jokes about silk road or prostitution cases are far too lame 
to be offered as basis of measurement of usg's willingness for power . 
whether its NSA who builds a working q machine or a weird project within 
DOE routed to a remote Sandia site doesnt matter . its highly doubtful 
if expensive and very forward technologies , if exist , used in police 
cases imho
- there is simply no guarantee that pk based systems are immune to post 
modern math attacks , the kind that its actually NSA's job to go get 
them , and whoever is involved with them , classified .
- not a commerce expert but seems to me the Chinese have proven history 
to mess with currency and exchange systems and used it for political 
gain . i suppose other players most certainly usg may have done that as 
well . if bitcoin is to be taken seriously in trade i would be very 
doubtful of China and usg not messing with it already . average 
math/crypto/software folks with laser pencil and powerpoints can go all 
night how great is dh or others for that matter . i just dont buy it
- the actual financial gain to get physical with bitcoin and crack it 
would be silly .
- nsa internal security is bad . the media identity known as snowden is 
not supposedly the way to prove that . there were more serious leaks and 
defectors from within us ic including nsa in war time . there is google 
for the names and their impacts . the older cases are much better in 
this argument because its more likely the whole truth about them is 
revealed by different actors over the time specially the difficult post 
cold war era . from this point , argument goes based on whether we 
assume nsa learns from history or not and in both cases i dont see the 
proof of them not having the q , necessarily

quick point -- i am not actually saying they have it . but all things 
considered , if i hear credible source saying they got it , i wouldnt be 
surprised .

-dp