Help! Help! The American Spies Are Trying To Make Quantum Computers!
NOT that many of us know what a quantum computer is of course but if the Americans spies are trying to make one it must be evil, right? And yes, this is the latest revelation from the Edward Snowden papers about what complete, total and utter bastards the NSA is.
In room-size metal boxes secure against electromagnetic leaks, the National Security Agency is racing to build a computer that could break nearly every kind of encryption used to protect banking, medical, business and government records around the world.
According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the effort to build “a cryptologically useful quantum computer” — a machine exponentially faster than classical computers — is part of a $79.7 million research program titled “Penetrating Hard Targets.” Much of the work is hosted under classified contracts at a laboratory in College Park, Md.
Sounds just terrible, doesn’t it? Appalling even? Those septics will be able to read our banks accounts and nick all our money!
The only problem with this idea is that absolutely everyone is trying to build a quantum computer. Because it’s just the next logical progression in the technology. There are Russians doing it, Swiss, Chinee and I even know a Professor at Oxford University doing it.
There’s just absolutely nothing special at all about the American spies trying it. And yes, if anyone does ever build one (we’re not actually certain that it’s possible even in theory yet) then yes, it will indeed be able to beat all the types of encryption that we currently use. But, as I say, given that everyone with the necessary rainpower is already working to do this worrying that the American spies are seems a bit silly.
Posted: 7th, January 2014 | In: Money, Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
