A little more on the NSA and cookies

Published 12/30/05

I wrote a story for The Roanoke Times about the NSA cookie thing. I talked to the folks at the NSA about it as well.

One quote:

“People are panicking over something that’s low-tech and low-yield in terms of what it can actually find out,” she said. “The public thinks cookies are a problem and, because it’s the NSA, inflates the problem into a crisis. It’s not.”

After talking about the cookie incident, I had the following exchange with the NSA spokesman, Don Weber.

Me: One more question I’ve gotta ask.
NSA: Sure.
Me: Can you guys crack PGP? [Referring to Pretty Good Privacy, one of the most popular pieces of encryption software.]
NSA: You know I can’t comment on operational capabilities.
Me: It was worth a shot.
NSA: [laughs] Oh, sure.

Link to Roanoke Times story.

The Fray

One response so far (add yours)

Marty Martin says:

Funny comment from the NSA :) Great story by the way on cookies and the NSA!

January 3rd, 2006 at 1:29 PM

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