This long-kept secret raises questions about the USA's commitment to free markets. If the CIA was in charge of basically all the cryptographic comms in the world until recently, how much of a "free market" was there? The US government was subsidizing the entire market. In order to easily break encrypted communications, they probably underpriced their machines, nobody could compete. Talk about barriers to entry of a market!
(2020)
This long-kept secret raises questions about the USA's commitment to free markets. If the CIA was in charge of basically all the cryptographic comms in the world until recently, how much of a "free market" was there? The US government was subsidizing the entire market. In order to easily break encrypted communications, they probably underpriced their machines, nobody could compete. Talk about barriers to entry of a market!