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If Microsoft was seriously pissed and not fearful, they'd sic Microsoft Research on them.

Also Google, FB, Yahoo etc should provide grants so independent cryptologists can spend time to review and test encryption standards. They don't have to match NSA's budget...




> independent cryptologists can spend time to review and test encryption standards.

It's a small world. They need money to do their work. MS, Google, FB, Yahoo!, etc haven't been providing the funding or the jobs. GCHQ, NSA, etc have been providing money and jobs. It's too late - there are no independent cryptologists.

EG: (http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/Research/CryptographySecurity/) (http://bsc.bris.ac.uk/) and (http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=14836817&postID=1126...) {expand the original comment with this last link} (http://www.maths.bris.ac.uk/research/heilbronn_institute/)


Maybe, but Google, Microsoft, FB and other top tech companies are even more connected to colleges than NSA. They know their top students and can easily lure them with grants and even prizes. I remember talking to PHD students having to live on $20K a year, imagine how a $50K grant and a possible $1 Million prize feels to him /her. If needed, tech companies as a whole can very easily outspend NSA, if they want to. Unless they do something, other than filing PR lawsuits, they have only themselves to blame.

(Of course the brightest mathematicians are used to fool people into clicking on ads. But that's another story.)


Yes, MS has very close tight links with Cambridge university.

> I remember talking to PHD students having to live on $20K a year

The spooks recruit before PHD if the person is good enough.




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