Darwin censored himself for fear of offending the Church, and only published The Origin of Species when Wallace scooped him. Perhaps the University should censure him retroactively.

No, the University should out him retroactively. Have the Advanced Physics department send back the time machine they’re going to invent next year.

On a serious note: I cheered and applauded upon reading the University’s manifesto. Give ‘em hell!

They did not actually hire someone to design the protocol.

A chip design firm chose to implement a protocol, the details of which were considered “top secret” to “protect the interests of our customers”, (read: security through obscurity), the chip and support systems were marketed to various institutions and industries for various uses, and some know-nothing MBA-degree-holding bank executive, sitting on (or chairing) an industry discussion panel, concerned solely with his annual bonus for making every quarter better than the last, brought up several possible “solutions” to their “leap forward initiative” on securing transactions, and (quite possibly with a variety of kickbacks and bribes) this particular system was shown as the most secure and least expensive (or equivalently secure and least expensive) solution, and the planning group (which contained absolutely no-one who possessed an EE, CS, or IT education) worked with the CIO’s (none of whom have any CS, EE, or IT educations — CIO’s of financial firms are MBAs / accountants / efficiency experts to a man) to set this system as an industry-wide standard in the country and to ensure that all legislation lobbying supported it and none opposed it.

In short, the protocol was chosen — not because it was secure — but because it was a “win-win for our bottom line”. And as no-one involved in the decision to use it understood it, including the people designing it and marketing it, they could not know that it was, in fact, a gigantic life-ruining turd — and even if they /could/ know it, it wasn’t going to be /their/ lives ruined, since they have never and will never have to wonder where they will live and what they will eat tomorrow. They make in one year enough for any reasonable person to live for twenty years on. Their decisions are not based on their skills, but on whether someone somewhere will take their candy away over something anyone /can/ understand: the profit margin.

Alex, PhD at Cambridge Uni

Tzctboin
Computer Technician
Technological College of Netzahualcoyotl City.

Since Thatcher’s magnificent reforms, there is no such thing as tenure in the UK.
All contracts are renewed every few years, the only difference between junior and senior faculty is the salary, and the renewal period gradually getting a bit longer – but saturates at 3-4 years.
But no worries, he won’t be sacked ;-).

@ Anon @ 8:32/26.12

I had a brief look at the thesis – all relevant information in it seems already published, so there is no real question of delayed publication.
In 2008/2009 Ross Anderson & co. sent the information to banks, and after waiting for the industry to react for several months to a year for different parts, published it in 2009.
They didn’t just go ahead and immediately publish material potentially problematic for payment systems – the banking association really has not much to complain about.

Sincerely,

Ross Anderson”

Darwin censored himself for fear of offending the Church, and only published The Origin of Species when Wallace scooped him. Perhaps the University should censure him retroactively.

“its” refers to “the payments system” – singular; “their” refers to “weaknesses” – plural. No error.

ETA Sorry, I didn’t realise at first that you had already noted that yourself. Just my inner pedant demanding an airing!

Good for them, anyways, for sticking to principle.

They could have had the letter read:
“Attached is a letter we received on December 1st. I think you should be aware that some asshole is signing your name to very stupid letters.”

This is simply further evidence that corporate executives and politicians believe that “physics” (I’m broadly applying the term, to include the “physics” of cryptography, etc) is an optional annoyance, that the Marketing mantra “perception is ALL there is” applies in all scenarios, and that by shear will they can change reality. Boo-Hoo.

That is a rare instance of a University in America not caving into corporate pressures.

George H. Morgan
Professional Engineer
Registered Patent Agent