European Researchers Reveal The Physics Of The Secret

March 27, 2014

[ Watch the Video: Keeping Secrets in a World of Spies and Mistrust ]

Peter Suciu for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Is it really a secret if researchers share it? In the March 27 issue of Nature, the weekly international journal of science, researchers Artur Ekert and Renato Renner revealed what physics can tell us about keeping our secrets secret.

This comes after high profile revelation that the National Security Agency (NSA) had been spying on emails, phone calls and other means of communications. Numerous companies have denied allegations of assisting the NSA, but a report from January suggested spy agencies might not just be listening in on phone calls or monitoring Internet browsing. Radio waves are also a secret technology being monitored by the NSA, redOrbit reported back in January.

Is nothing safe?

In the paper, titled The Ultimate Physical Limits of Privacy, the authors noted:

Among those who make a living from the science of secrecy, worry and paranoia are just signs of professionalism. Can we protect our secrets against those who wield superior technological powers? Can we trust those who provide us with tools for protection? Can we even trust ourselves, our own freedom of choice? Recent developments in quantum cryptography show that some of these questions can be addressed and discussed in precise and operational terms, suggesting that privacy is indeed possible under surprisingly weak assumptions.

Ekert, who is the director of the Centre for Quantum Technlogy, professor of quantum physics at the University of Oxford, UK, suggested in a statement, Recent developments in quantum cryptography show that privacy is possible under stunningly weak assumptions about the freedom of action we have and the trustworthiness of the devices we use.

Ekert is also a Lee Kong Chian Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore.

Read more:
European Researchers Reveal The Physics Of The Secret