On 4/10/13 01:39 AM, James A. Donald wrote:
On 2013-10-04 03:45, Adam Back wrote:
Is it just me or could we better replace NIST by DJB ? ;) He can do
that EC
crypto, and do constant time coding (nacl), and non-hackable mail servers
(qmail), and worst-time databases (cdb). Most people in the world
look like
rank amateurs or no-real-programming understanding niche-bound math geeks
compared to DJB!
Committees are at best inherently more stupid than their most stupid
member, and are at worst also inclined to evil and madness. Linux was
success because Linus is unelected president for life.
Let us have Jon Callas as unelected president for life of symmetric
cryptography, Bernstein as God King of public key cryptography.
Long live the King :)
Recall the long succession of Wifi debacles. Has any committee ever
done anything good in cryptography?
IEEE 802.11 was stupid. If NIST was not stupid, it was because evil
was calling the shots behind the scenes, overruling the stupid.
But, before we say, Long Live the King, there is another phrase:
The King is Dead!
The problem with ICANN writ large -- before them, there was Jon Postel.
When he died, there was ... a power vacuum. This is no new story,
traditionally there have been many battles for succession, and
historically some of these have been bloody.
While I agree that committees have not served us in security (and that
is as far as my thesis goes) I think Kings do not either. We've seen
NIST the king, of sorts, and we wonder who whispers into his ear.
It is for this reason I like competition. I like the fact that DJB is
whipping NIST's tail. I also like the fact that any young upstart can
whip DJB's tail if he can get the curves lined up ...
Long Live Competition!
iang
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