> The logical problem with the argument Bernstein makes about NSA picking the least trustworthy scheme is that it applies to literally any scheme NIST picks. It's unfalsifiable.
That may be true in the strict sense, but in practice, I think there would be a material distinction between a NIST process of "we defer our decision to the majority opinion of a set of three researchers with unimpeachable reputations" (a characterization from another comment) and a process of "NSA said we should pick X."
In the strict sense, I can't trust either process, but in practice [edit: as an absolute layperson who has to trust someone], I'd trust the first process infinitely more (as I would absolutely distrust the second process).
> The funny thing here is, I actually do accept his logic, perhaps even more than he does.
That's actually what I got from your other comments to this story. But that confused me, because it was also what I got from the article. The first two thirds of the article are spent entirely on presenting NIST as an untrustworthy body based on decades of history. Apart from the title, PQC isn't even mentioned until the last third, and that part, to me, was basically "NIST's claims of reform are invalidated if it turns out that NSA influenced the decision-making process again".
My vibe was that both of your positions are more or less in agreement, though I have to say I didn't pick up on any accusations of corruption of a PQC researcher in the article (I attribute that to me being a layperson in the matter).
That may be true in the strict sense, but in practice, I think there would be a material distinction between a NIST process of "we defer our decision to the majority opinion of a set of three researchers with unimpeachable reputations" (a characterization from another comment) and a process of "NSA said we should pick X."
In the strict sense, I can't trust either process, but in practice [edit: as an absolute layperson who has to trust someone], I'd trust the first process infinitely more (as I would absolutely distrust the second process).
> The funny thing here is, I actually do accept his logic, perhaps even more than he does.
That's actually what I got from your other comments to this story. But that confused me, because it was also what I got from the article. The first two thirds of the article are spent entirely on presenting NIST as an untrustworthy body based on decades of history. Apart from the title, PQC isn't even mentioned until the last third, and that part, to me, was basically "NIST's claims of reform are invalidated if it turns out that NSA influenced the decision-making process again".
My vibe was that both of your positions are more or less in agreement, though I have to say I didn't pick up on any accusations of corruption of a PQC researcher in the article (I attribute that to me being a layperson in the matter).