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Actually, it was invented six years earlier by the British GCHQ, but remained classified until 1997. One wonders what marvels are still classified...

by RachelF 12y ago

sargun 12y ago
A little blurb about this from Bruce Schneier: https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/1998/04/the_secret_story_of.html https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/1998/04/the_secret_...
maneesh 12y ago
This is mentioned in the article
drzaiusapelord 12y ago
I think its fair for you to sign away your right to claim invention if you're doing top secret work. Its not like GCHQ would ever have pushed public key into civilian service, so its almost a moot point. This whole black-ops world of "Oh, we knew that" shouldn't be rewarded. If major innovations are being done behind closed doors, then we're doing something wrong. Why should we reward these organizations that poach the best and the brightest and drain tax dollars that could be used for more constructive things? There's something almost perverse about the research arms of intelligence services. Its the opposite of the idea of open academic paper publishing and if they continue to snap up all the best talent, of course the academic world won't be able to keep up. Imagine if the government had a secret soccer team that would draft the top three players every year. How competitive would the civilian team be? What, if any, credit should we give the government team? Maybe some disincentives like these would make some people think twice about getting in bed with the NSA or the GCHQ. Sure, you'll make some real money, maybe work on some interesting problems, but if you do something amazing your name won't be known.
mhandley 12y ago
Near the bottom of the Atlantic article is a link to this piece by Simon Singh on the British work: http://cryptome.org/ukpk-alt.htm http://cryptome.org/ukpk-alt.htm Well worth a read.

Actually, it was invented six years earlier by the British GCHQ, but remained classified until 1997. One wonders what marvels are still classified...

by RachelF 12y ago

Actually, it was invented six years earlier by the British GCHQ, but remained classified until 1997. One wonders what marvels are still classified...

sargun 12y ago

A little blurb about this from Bruce Schneier: https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/1998/04/the_secret_story_of.html https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/1998/04/the_secret_...

maneesh 12y ago

This is mentioned in the article

drzaiusapelord 12y ago

I think its fair for you to sign away your right to claim invention if you're doing top secret work. Its not like GCHQ would ever have pushed public key into civilian service, so its almost a moot point. This whole black-ops world of "Oh, we knew that" shouldn't be rewarded. If major innovations are being done behind closed doors, then we're doing something wrong. Why should we reward these organizations that poach the best and the brightest and drain tax dollars that could be used for more constructive things? There's something almost perverse about the research arms of intelligence services. Its the opposite of the idea of open academic paper publishing and if they continue to snap up all the best talent, of course the academic world won't be able to keep up. Imagine if the government had a secret soccer team that would draft the top three players every year. How competitive would the civilian team be? What, if any, credit should we give the government team? Maybe some disincentives like these would make some people think twice about getting in bed with the NSA or the GCHQ. Sure, you'll make some real money, maybe work on some interesting problems, but if you do something amazing your name won't be known.

mhandley 12y ago

Near the bottom of the Atlantic article is a link to this piece by Simon Singh on the British work: http://cryptome.org/ukpk-alt.htm http://cryptome.org/ukpk-alt.htm Well worth a read.