It was a joke

Story: So, Linus Torvalds: Did US spooks demand a backdoor in Linux? 'Yes'Total Replies: 2
Author Content
montezuma

Sep 24, 2013
7:32 PM EDT
Read the followup

http://mashable.com/2013/09/19/linus-torvalds-backdoor-linux...
DrGeoffrey

Sep 24, 2013
8:40 PM EDT
And, IMHO, it was an excellent joke.

OTOH, what the NSA has done to the civil rights of U.S. citizens is clearly not a joke. Not that they, or seemingly the vast majority of U.S. politicians, give a rat's patootie.
Bob_Robertson

Sep 25, 2013
9:12 AM EDT
The reason it worked so wonderfully AS a joke is because of its plausibility.

Considering US law and the actions of the NSA, it's perfectly reasonable for them to have gone to Linus and requested, under an order never to discuss or reveal it, that such a thing be inserted.

He'd then explain that the Linux kernel is in no position to have such a back door inserted, because of all the layers of access and protocols above it where such things are actually handled.

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