Comment by bumper_crop
3 years ago
This definitely has the sting of bitterness in it, I doubt djb would have filed this suit if NTRU Prime would have won the PQC NIST contest. It's hard to evaluate this objectively when there are strong emotions involved.
When it comes to the number of times DJB is right versus the number of times that DBJ is wrong, I'll fully back DJB. Simply put the NSA/NIST cannot and should not be trusted in this case.
You misread. I'm saying his reasons for filing are in question. NIST probably was being dishonest. That's not the reason there is a lawsuit though.
They’re not in question for many people carefully tracking this process. He filed his FOIA before the round three results were announced.
The lawsuit is because they refused to answer his reasonable and important FOIA in a timely manner. This is not unlike how they also delayed the round three announcement.
It's funny how often the bitterness of a post is used as an excuse to dismiss the long and well documented case being made.
If NTRU Prime had been declared the winner, would this suit have been filed? It's the same contest, same people, same suspicious behavior from NIST. I don't think this suit would have come up. djb is filing this suit because of alleged bad behavior, but I have doubts that it's the real reason.
Yes, I think so. His former PhD students were among the winners in round three and he has other work that has also made it to round four. I believe he would have sued if he won every single area in every round. This is the Bernstein way.
The behavior in question by NIST isn’t just alleged - look at the FOIA ( https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/nsa... ). They’re not responding in a reasonable or timely manner.
Does that seem like reasonable behavior by NIST to you?
To my eyes, it is completely unacceptable behavior by NIST, especially given the timely nature of the standardization process. They don’t even understand the fee structure correctly, it’s a comedy of incompetence with NIST.
His FOIA predates the round three announcement. His lawsuit was filed in a timely manner, and it appears that he filed it fairly quickly. Many requesters wait much longer before filing suit.