Re: Is zeitgeist safe?
On 20140506_1554-0400, Theodore Alcapotaxis wrote:
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: John Hasler
> > Sent: 05/06/14 09:11 AM
> > To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> > Subject: Re: Is zeitgeist safe?
> >
> >
> > Produce specifics.
> > --
> > John Hasler
> > jhasler@newsguy.com
> > Elmwood, WI USA
>
> Didn't you know that all NSA contractors, including ex-employee Edward Snowden, are obliged to take the oath of secrecy with regards to their work?
>
> How can I produce specifics even if I wish to? I don't wish to receive an indictment from the FISA court.
>
> Did you know that Linus Torvalds had to include some NSA-friendly code (a.k.a. backdoors) in his Linux OS?
I think this claim about Linus Torvalds is apocryphal. I am aware of a
long paper by one of the people involved in the original development
of UNIX and C at Bell Labs in which he described in great detail how
one might plant back doors in UNIX code and cover one's tracks by
modifying the whole tool chain of the C language to keep the existence
of this code from ever being revealed. The paper was delivered as an
address for some award he had received for contributions to soft
reliability. By the end of the address, it was unclear if he was talking
about an hypothetical, or something he had actually done. My younger
brother, Joe, worked with those people when all the innovation was going
on, and could refresh my memory, except that he died two years ago.
It was a very clever talk, and much talked about at the time. But now
the real innovator of the idea is no longer with us to defend his
priority.
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net
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