NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
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NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
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Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#2Handforth Parish council Internet edition. You have no authority here, djb! No authority at all
Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#3D. J. Bernstein is very well respected and for very good reason. And I don't have firsthand knowledge of the background here, but the blog posts about the incident have been written in a kind of weird voice that make me feel like I'm reading about the US Government suppressing evidence of Bigfoot or something.
Stuff like this
> Wow, look at that: "due process".... Could it possibly be that the people writing the law were thinking through how standardization processes could be abused?"
is both accusing the other party of bad faith and also heavily using sarcasm, which is a sort of performative bad faith.
Sarcasm can be really effective when used well. But when a post is dripping with sarcasm and accusing others of bad faith it comes off as hiding a weak position behind contempt. I don't know if this is just how DJB writes, or if he's adopting this voice because he thinks it's what the internet wants to see right now.
Personally, I would prefer a style where he says only what he means without irony and expresses his feelings directly. If showing contempt is essential to the piece, then the Linus Torvalds style of explicit theatrical contempt is probably preferable, at least to me.
I understand others may feel differently. The style just gives me crackpot vibes and that may color reception of the blog posts to people who don't know DJT's reputation.
Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#4[flagged]
Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#5D. J. Bernstein is very well respected and for very good reason. And I don't have firsthand knowledge of the background here, but the blog posts about the incident have been written in a kind of weird voice that make me feel like I'm reading about the US Government suppressing evidence of Bigfoot or something. Stuff like this > Wow, look at that: "due process".... Could it possibly be that the people writing the law…
He’s smart and prolific, for sure, but I lost respect for him several years ago.
Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#6[flagged]
That's not what the message you linked claims at all. Maybe you missed the "in this message" at the end of the sentence?
Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#7[flagged]
”No association” and “I am not a representative” are quite different things to say.
Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#8D. J. Bernstein is very well respected and for very good reason. And I don't have firsthand knowledge of the background here, but the blog posts about the incident have been written in a kind of weird voice that make me feel like I'm reading about the US Government suppressing evidence of Bigfoot or something. Stuff like this > Wow, look at that: "due process".... Could it possibly be that the people writing the law…
He’s smart and prolific, for sure, but I lost respect for him several years ago.
Why, if I might respectfully ask?
Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#9Perhaps related: from 2022, on his (FOIA?) lawsuit against the government:
* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32360533
From 2023, "Debunking NIST's calculation of the Kyber-512 security level":
Re: NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand
#10For context, djb has been doing and saying these things since he was a college student:
While a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, Bernstein completed the development of an encryption equation (an "algorithm") he calls "Snuffle." Bernstein wishes to publish a) the algorithm (b) a mathematical paper describing and explaining the algorithm and (c) the "source code" for a computer program that incorporates the algorithm. Bernstein also wishes to discuss these items at mathematical conferences, college classrooms and other open public meetings. The Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (the ITAR regulatory scheme) required Bernstein to submit his ideas about cryptography to the government for review, to register as an arms dealer, and to apply for and obtain from the government a license to publish his ideas. Failure to do so would result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Bernstein believes this is a violation of his First Amendment rights and has sued the government.
After four years and one regulatory change, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that software source code was speech protected by the First Amendment and that the government's regulations preventing its publication were unconstitutional.