[45786] in Cypherpunks
Re: Attacking Clipper with timing info?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Miller)
Fri Dec 22 02:23:59 1995
From: jim@bilbo.suite.com (Jim Miller)
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 95 00:49:10 -0600
To: prm-ml@rome.isl.sri.com
Cc: cypherpunks@toad.com
Reply-To: Jim_Miller@bilbo.suite.com
> I suppose the correct answer is, "It depends."
>
> It depends on your definition of "should" in the above
> paragraph. If "should" means "in keeping with the NSA's
> mission statement", then I believe the NSA should remain
> quite and exploit the vulnerability as a national
> technical asset. If "should" means "in support of US
> commerce", then the answer would be that they should
> announce/fix the vulnerability.
>
> I'm not sure from your tone which one you believe to be the
> correct definition. :-)
>
I don't know myself. That's why I still occasionally think about it. It
is sometimes comforting to think there is a US agency with the expertise
of the NSA. At other times I wonder if we're getting the most for our tax
money. Unfortunately, it would be impossible to generate a meaningful
cost/benefit analysis even if the NSA was not a secret agency.
Of course, if we did not pax taxes there would be no need to wonder if
we're getting our money's worth. A self-funded,for-profit NSA? Now
there's a liberatarian idea if I ever heard one.
Jim_Miller@suite.com
