[gcraig]

I agree that hardware acceleration is an excellent solution, if it is installed in a project from inception. If the system is not equipped with the hardware cards already then it usually means scaling the existing infrastructure by some multiplier. I find your observation about government inability to decipher might be interpreted more as a political constraint rather than a technical limit. That said, I would expect conservative thinkers to reject a government decryption snoop on everything we do. I admire your well thought-out post, you hit the target.

[zeugma]

Regarding the hardware cards, I absolutely agree. If you're going to use it, you need to architect it in at a project's inception, otherwise you're likely to end up with a bolted-on solution that will likely not satisfy your requirements.

I find your observation about government inability to decipher might be interpreted more as a political constraint rather than a technical limit. That said, I would expect conservative thinkers to reject a government decryption snoop on everything we do.

I've been interested in cryptography for quite a while, and I've watched a lot of the discussions that have surrounded it, especially as it concerns government agencies. The government really doesn't like crypto at all. I don't know if you're aware, but but cryptography used to be heavily controlled as an export product. (still is to some degree - figures, the government doesn't think foreigners can do math). Phil Zimmerman, the guy who wrote PGP was under threat of federal charges for quite some time because he open-sourced the code to the program. The uncertainty and roadblocks generated by FedGov were a major reason the internet didn't develop stronger privacy protections in the days before the net was noticed by the vast majority of the public. The main conclusion I took from this was that they believe in privacy that goes one way, and that is their way. Extracting information from FedGov is like pulling teeth (See Fast & Furious), but they want to be able to read anything you send on the net. You might be surprised at how much of the internet passes through points that FedGov has direct access to. Anyone who thinks they aren't snooping hasn't been paying attention.

I admire your well thought-out post, you hit the target.

Gee thanks! Doesn't happen often. Trust me. :-)