So why is this being posted? Kerckhoffs' principle is common knowledge, I thought
Unless of course you mean common knowledge among computer scientists and cryptographers, in which case "common" is rather rare.
1. not everyone is familiar with cryptology, actually the majority of people aren't.
2. IMO it is extremely relevant to the NSA. If there was complete transparency but an elegant system, we can have a secure country.
http://www.sandiego6.com/story/cia-director-brennan-confirme...