Linus Torvalds Admits He Was Approached By US Government To Insert Backdoor Into Linux -- Or Does He?

Posted by BernardSwiss on Sep 20, 2013 10:26 AM EDT
Techdirt; By Glyn Moody
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At the LinuxCon meeting in New Orleans, Linus Torvalds was asked if he had ever been approached by the US government to insert a backdoor into the Linux kernel. Here's his characteristic answer: Torvalds responded "no" while shaking his head "yes," as the audience broke into spontaneous laughter.

Obviously, it's hard to tell from that whether he really meant "yes" or "no". But the question does touch on an important issue: whether open source might be less vulnerable than traditional applications to tampering by the NSA or other intelligence organizations.

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