The Perils of Hacking Math - Slate

[WillyT]

The Perils of Hacking Math
The National Security Agency is undermining fundamental principles of mathematical knowledge.
By Edward Frenkel - Slate
SEPT. 30 2013 12:42 PM

<snip>

Recently, I co-authored and published a math paper that solved a 15-year-old mystery. But, unlike a book or a gadget, the work cannot be copyrighted or bought and sold. In fact, my co-author and I have made our paper available for free, for the whole world to see, on arXiv, an online depository of scientific articles. This inherent democracy has always been the mark of mathematics: It belongs to us all, even if people are not aware of it. Mathematicians don't expect to be paid for their discoveries; we do math because we want to understand how the world works.

This principle has deep roots in history as well as in legal systems. No one can own mathematical knowledge; no one can claim ownership of a mathematical formula or idea as a personal possession. Though he discovered it, Albert Einstein couldn't patent his famous formula E=mc2. In the landmark Gottschalk v. Benson decision, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded:

A scientific truth, or the mathematical expression of it, is not a patentable invention. ... A principle, in the abstract, is a fundamental truth; an original cause; a motive; these cannot be patented, as no one can claim in either of them an exclusive right. ... He who discovers a hitherto unknown phenomenon of nature has no claim to a monopoly of it which the law recognizes.

Unfortunately, this time-honored and essential principle of freedom of mathematical information is now being compromised. According to published reports, the National Security Agency has attempted to undermine mathematical formulas used in widely used encryption systems. They did it both by using advances made in secret by mathematicians on their payroll and by intentionally subverting commonly used security protocols by installing "backdoors" that make these protocols easier to break.

The legality and broad implications of the NSA large-sale surveillance have already been discussed at great length. My point here, however, is that tampering with mathematics is by itself a dangerous precedent that raises a host of legal and ethical issues.

We should be especially alarmed by the reported attempts by the NSA to intentionally undermine...

<snip>

More: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/09/nsa_misuse_of_mathematics_secret_formulas_and_backdoor_cryptography.html

[Shivering Jemmy]

1. Meh

Codebreaking by large integer factorization needs to have funding come from somewhere.

[Cerridwen]

2. Knowledge is power.

Knowledge must be quarantined/patented or others may gain "power."

Who will have the power over others?

The common thread throughout the currently understood human history.