Hacker News Reader

Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

> Fly the winner(s) to our office in Atlanta, GA to discuss the winning submission in details with some of the top information security experts in the world.

That may be a bit prohibitive, given that they will still have to use air travel, possibly to and at least within the USA. I figure the people that come up with a mitigation against a system like this would be very smart to stay the hell away from claiming credit for it.

And the top information security experts in the world are working for what we'll loosely designate 'the other side' here, I don't think they'll be on your discussion panel.

View on HN

And the top information security experts in the world are working for what we'll loosely designate 'the other side' here

I think that would be accurate if it read:

And some of the top information security experts in the world are working for what we'll loosely designate 'the other side' here

There are some pretty goddamned smart people in the cypherpunk / hacker community, who would (and do) find this kind of surveillance crap abhorrent and who will work to resist it. I certainly would not say that all of the best people are on "the other side". Maybe time will prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

I'm with you on the 'some', I should have been more careful with the wording there.

Yes, there are indeed lots of smart people who find this crap abhorrent and who will work to resist it. But I don't think they're the majority. Not even close. Individuals such as Phil Zimmerman are making a real difference.

But money is a powerful motivator. Lots of people will do very stupid things when offered enough money. Governments print money. Nationalism is another such powerful motivator. Press the combined buttons of nationalism and piles of cash and a lot of people will start seeing things your way.

The NSA is currently the largest employer of mathematicians in the United States, and that probably makes them the largest employer of mathematicians planet wide.

There are lots of counterparts of the NSA in other countries. And those mathematicians are not too upset about not being able to publish their results, so I'm thinking there is something to counterbalance that, such as abundant financial compensation.

For now this is an unbalanced situation.

For now this is an unbalanced situation.

Agreed. I was just trying to point out that there are at least a few talented folks on "our side".

Hi there,

That is optional for the winner(s) :)

However, our company actually does have some of the foremost information security experts as investors (Founders / CTOs / CEOs of PGP Corp, Internet Security Systems, CipherTrust, PureWire, NitroSecurity among others).

We also work closely with some of the leading researchers at the leading engineering universities in the area of cyber security.

Always open to suggestion regarding the structure of the overall process for an event such as this!

Thank you.

Great idea d0ne. I hope you do understand, that what the boys in Washington hate most, are people thinking they have rights and taking actions to protect them. If this gets any coverage, don't be surprised by the pressure to give up (tax audits, no-flight list, credit ratings).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com