Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/public/wp-config.php on line 27

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/public/wp-config.php:27) in /home/public/wp-includes/feed-rss2-comments.php on line 8
Comments on: And This Makes Sense Because … https://whynow.dumka.us/2015/12/20/and-this-makes-sense-because/ On-line Opinion Magazine...OK, it's a blog Mon, 21 Dec 2015 22:21:24 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 By: Bryan https://whynow.dumka.us/2015/12/20/and-this-makes-sense-because/comment-page-1/#comment-80702 Mon, 21 Dec 2015 22:21:24 +0000 http://whynow.dumka.us/?p=36280#comment-80702 Yes, Shirt, some people believe that they have to give up their rights to ‘be safe’.

It is getting as bad as when one of the people who wrote an early encryption algorithm was arrested for attempting to export a weapon for wearing a t-shirt that had the algorithm printed on it on a foreign trip. It was totally absurd.

I have always used open-source encryption software from Australia and Europe to avoid US export problems.

These people are a prime example of Clarke’s Third Law.

]]> By: Badtux https://whynow.dumka.us/2015/12/20/and-this-makes-sense-because/comment-page-1/#comment-80699 Mon, 21 Dec 2015 17:19:45 +0000 http://whynow.dumka.us/?p=36280#comment-80699 I’ve explained to laypeople multiple times that you can’t put the encryption genie back into the bottle, that all current encryption techniques are based on well known mathematical formulae or techniques that are in the public domain and can be implemented by *anybody*, not just by some magic “software manufacturer”, and they don’t get it. Or maybe they think Muslims are all medieval aholes who can’t put together three algorithms whose definition and source code is in the public domain (RSA, SHA256, and AES) to make their own encryption. I tell them that I could do that in about two weeks of work max, and they’re, like, “yeah, but you’re a genius.” Telling them that I’ve met Pakistanis and other Muslims who are just as good as me and they stare at me confused because it just doesn’t fit into their world view, nevermind that the Pakis developed their own atomic bomb so clearly aren’t morons….

I think there’s too many people who think technology is magic that can only be done by wizards born with a talent nobody else has, and thus they assume that what we do is magic and doesn’t have to make sense. Yes, a back door can be put into any encryption software, just encrypt the key with the NSA’s public key and store it along with the payload in a way that’s difficult to detect (maybe spread its bits across multiple bytes of encrypted payload so you can’t just strip out 16 bytes at the beginning or end), but who would use software back-doored that way? Certainly not terrorists, who already have their own software.

]]> By: Shirt https://whynow.dumka.us/2015/12/20/and-this-makes-sense-because/comment-page-1/#comment-80698 Mon, 21 Dec 2015 16:53:25 +0000 http://whynow.dumka.us/?p=36280#comment-80698 A fearful society eventually becomes what is feared.

There are words that describe fearmongers: cowardice and demagogues are but two of them.

]]>