BBN Announces Functional Quantum Encrypted Network

anzha writes "BBN Technologies has announced that under DARPA's Quantum Network Project to have built in conjunction with Harvard University the world's first functional quantum encrypted network. This is probably funded under DARPA's Quantum Information Science and Technology Program."

Comments

Patents.. UCK

[Ckwop]

Patent-pending BBN protocols pave the way for robust quantum networks on a larger scale by ...

AND

We were ahead of the technology curve with the ARPANET and the first router, and our quantum network exemplifies the same kind of forward thinking and innovation that has made BBN a technology leader for over 50 years

All this would be just fine if it wasn't for the horrible P word. They've automatically, like all people who patent cryptography, made their entire idea completly unprofitable and made sure that no-one ever implements it. The thing is.. there's no market pressure to adopt this stuff.. we already have secure communication. Sure.. it's improved but so was eliptic curve cryptography but no-one uses that because of patents.

What a waste of time!

Simon.

Re:Patents.. UCK

[pedantic bore]

They've automatically, like all people who patent cryptography, made their entire idea completly unprofitable and made sure that no-one ever implements it.

Yes, just like RSA, and Diffie-Hellman key exchange, SHA-1... C'mon. You use patented stuff all the time.

there's no market pressure to adopt this stuff.. we already have secure communication.

Oh, where to begin... we don't have secure communications, what we have are communications that nobody knows how to break yet. Quantum cryptography is a different ballgame. It can't be broken without changing the laws of physics.