re new encryption algorithm in article artmel well sf ca us artmel well sf ca us arthur melnick writes in order to get export approval for secom nea it was necessary to go through nsa and to reveal to them the details of the program and algorithm this was done only after we had a finished product to submit with the encryption algorithm approved for export we set please don t be insulted but based on this i would say that your encryption algorithm is very likely not worth the paper it s printed on if the nsa gave export approval that means they felt confident that they could crack it that s their job mandated by law and i m sure they believe in what they do if they gave export approval to an encryption algorithm which they weren t confident of being able to crack they would be derelict in their sworn duty to monitor foreign communications for us national security related material just because many most of us think that the government and the spooks are pugnacious slimeballs is no reason to lose sight of the fact that they do their jobs to the best of their ability and further that said ability is rather high i hope that one day we can make them all obsolete but until then we have to cope with their existence export approvals are one thing they do that we can learn a lot from for example robert bickford rab well sf ca us don t blame me i voted libertarian
