Linus Torvalds Admits He's Been Asked To Insert Backdoor Into Linux

darthcamaro writes "At the Linuxcon conference in New Orleans today, Linus Torvalds joined fellow kernel developers in answering a barrage of questions about Linux development. One question he was asked was whether a government agency had ever asked about inserting a back-door into Linux. Torvalds responded 'no' while shaking his head 'yes,' as the audience broke into spontaneous laughter. Torvalds also admitted that while he as a full life outside of Linux he couldn't imagine his life without it. 'I don't see any project coming along being more interesting to me than Linux,' Torvalds said. 'I couldn't imagine filling the void in my life if I didn't have Linux.'"

Comments

Would probably be found

[MadX]

*If* such a mechanism was coded in, the nature of open source would mean it would be found by others. This in turn would compromise the trust of the ENTIRE kernel. That trust can take years to build up - but be detroyed in a heartbeat.

Re:Would probably be found

[Anonymous Coward]

You also can't perform a proper review with a bunch of hobbyist coders, you need highly-trained experts.

Yeah damn those unwashed hobbyist, we need real professionals, like the ones working for Microsoft. /sarcasm

Re:Would probably be found

[DoofusOfDeath]

According to the recent human brain study, facts do not matter. So no wonder people still believe in things like Windows (or open-source) safety and security...

Then why are you presenting a fact?

Re:Would probably be found

[OakDragon]

But how can we take the word of a criminal?

Re:Would probably be found

[DoofusOfDeath]

Touché. Excuse me while I go knock over a liquor store.

I couldn't imagine filling the void in my life if

[TheGratefulNet]

yeah, he's a "char star" alright. yup.

if you have char-stars you don't care about voids, really.

Re:Well, did he do it?

[Ash Vince]

Who cares if he got asked. I can ask for a lot of things too, but what I actually get is what matters. What did the government get?

Probably a rude explanation about why they know fuck all about how kernel development works :)