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Scientific American on Quantum Encryption
prostoalex writes "Scientific American claims that advances in commercially available quantum encryption might obsolete the existing factorization-based solutions: "The National Security Agency or one of the Federal Reserve banks can now buy a quantum-cryptographic system from two small companies - and more products are on the way. This new method of encryption represents the first major commercial implementation for what has become known as quantum information science, which blends quantum mechanics and information theory. The ultimate technology to emerge from the field may be a quantum computer so powerful that the only way to protect against its prodigious code-breaking capability may be to deploy quantum-cryptographic techniques.""
Quantum cryptography is a solution in search of a problem. It cannot implement public key/private key cryptography, and it can transmit only through a single uninterrupted fiber-optic cable, not over the internet at large. Given those limitations (which I don't think can be surmounted), one might as well use tremendous, digital one-time pads. Transmission of the pads to the relevant parties should be strictly easier than the quantum cryptographic solution: if nothing else, generate terabytes of noise, store it on a RAID, and put it in a car with ten intensely loyal guys. After you've done that, you can send up to that amount of data securely over the internet at large, and no amount of quantum hocus-pocus will be able to decode it.
I don't think that the NSA has substantially better quantum encryption / computing than the rest of us. My main line of evidence is that they are still throwing enormous gobs of money at unclassified research into quantum computing.
One such example is the innocuously named "Laboratory for Physical Sciences". Please note the rather conspicuous key-shaped logo. I toured their facility a few years back while looking for a job. At the time the NSA was buying them just about anything they wanted provided it might have applications in quantum computing. This included a rather sophisticated chip fabrication lab and clean room.
I don't know if we will ever really have quantum computers, but the NSA sure doesn't want to be late to the party if we do.
Just a thought, maybe off-topic. I think articles like this one show the inherent flaw in anti-circumvention laws. While the american government says "if you put a lock on something it's unlawful to break it, develop something that breaks it, tell someone how to make something that breaks it etc. etc." we're all seeing where technology is going: quantum computing (sorry if this term is not the right one, have mercy, I'm italian, I mean the ability to compute using quantum mechanics principles) could very well break any kind of lock we know today. This is more proof that high-level, modern technology and copyright/anti-circumvention laws can't possibly coexist as long as copyright has the form and shape it has today. Either laws change or technology stops. Sorry if this comment was too much off-topic.