Chinese Invent Quantum Communication

[sgreger1]

At a distance!

For the first time in history, china announces they have created a working long distance version of quantum communication. They can now send encrypted messeges 16km (10 miles) between listening stations.


This means they have a means of communication that can reach from a sattelite to the earth, and that is encrypted in a way that is ensured by the laws of physics. It is theoretically impossible to intercept it without the other party knowing.


They can now talk to submarines deep underwater without the need to resurface. This is actually a major breakthrough, from a military perspective. Unbreakable encryption, faster than the speed of light, at a relitavely long distance.

Watch /b/ crack it with a texas instruments calculator by next week


http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599201668700

[sgreger1]

One thing to note is that this isnt new. Quantum communication has been around since the 90's but this is the first time its been done at a distance that makes it usefull.

Also, the big problem, which we dont know if theyve cracked, is if the data is storeable. The problem is that by having something record the incoming transmission, it automatically changes it, making it useless. I imagine theyve gotten around this obstacle, but not sure how.



But the biggest horror to this whole thing is: what will the NSA do now? I mean, eventually this unbreakable communication is going to go commercial and be in cell phones and everything. How, HOW, will they be able to wiretap you without a warrant then? It will be anarchy! Without the ability to monitor everything everyone is saying all the time, im imagining skyscrapers on fire, total anarchy, sharia law, nuclear explosions, and of course the communists will take us over.

This must be stopped.

[lxskllr]

I'm sure I don't completely understand the technology, but it seems to me it would be fairly easy to crack, or at least not much harder than existing tech. Wouldn't the quantum states be a binary choice, so you'd pick the state that makes the most sense in context?

[shikitohno]

Once this method gets leaked, it'll be a boon to drug dealers. If it's actually available in commercial form soon enough, and truly is impossible to intercept without leaving prints, it'd probably make it a lot easier for stoners outside California to remain a little less paranoid.

I'm sure I don't completely understand the technology, but it seems to me it would be fairly easy to crack, or at least not much harder than existing tech. Wouldn't the quantum states be a binary choice, so you'd pick the state that makes the most sense in context?

From what sgreger said, I'm guessing it isn't terribly difficult to actually crack it, the challenge is doing that without leaving what amounts to an giant sign saying, "If you guys didn't know, we read this when you didn't want us to."

[sgreger1]

I'm sure I don't completely understand the technology, but it seems to me it would be fairly easy to crack, or at least not much harder than existing tech. Wouldn't the quantum states be a binary choice, so you'd pick the state that makes the most sense in context?

Why it's theoretically impossible to crack:

In quantum mechanics, if you have two entagled particles, changing one will instantly make the other change. It's like if I had two pieces of paper that were quantumly entangled and I wrote something on one, it would immediately appear at the other. In theory, no one could intercept it, because the mere act of them intercepting it would mean they would have to observe or read it. The very act of a 3rd party reading it would actually change the message, and therefore would be of no use to them.

Quantum communication works like morse code. You can make the proton spin left or right, and then you canmake comibnations of these into a type of morse code that the other side can read.

If party B is sending the message : left left left right left right right, party B will see it instantly (Actually, party B will recieve it before it was actually even sent by party A, since quantum communication works at 8,000x the speed of light.)

But if the dirty americans come in to snoop on it, they will have to of course look at the message, but the very act of looking at the message will alter it, making it no longer the orriginal message, and therefore of no value.




So the laws of physics make it impossible to crack, because if anyone looks at it, it will automatically change. Like if I look at a note you are passing in class, the contents of the note will immediately become unreadable if I look at it.



The problem is that this could actually make it very easy for the snooper. All the US has to do is constantly observe their communications and it would make any messeges they send worthless. So we could easly make noise in their system by just observing all the time, cutting off their ability to even send messeges.


I see a lot of holes in this, but I imagine they will figure it out, or already have figured it out somehow.

[chainsnuser]

Uncrackable encryption is easy. I read about it in a science magazine, about 20 years ago, when a new algorithm had been developed. The algorithm was not hard to understand, even for someone like me who never really has been interested in mathematics.

The problem we have to face is, that in western countries, uncrackable encryption technologies are forbidden to use in private environments. Well, single people could try to use it, but phone companies or internet providers would be out of business as soon as they tried to implement this technology (which would take their communication out of reach of the police or any other authority and simply therefore is not wanted).

The national governments, the military and the secret services use the algorithm since it has been invented, no doubt at all.

Don't ask me for links, I'm really not very interested in this stuff and I've long forgotten even the basics of the algorithm, and I don't have an idea if the Chinese now really have invented something better, but yes, uncrackable encryption is not the problem, it has been invented long ago. The government monopoly to use these technologies is the problem for our everyday communication.

Cheers!

[sgreger1]

Uncrackable encryption is easy. I read about it in a science magazine, about 20 years ago, when a new algorithm had been developed. The algorithm was not hard to understand, even for someone like me who never really has been interested in mathematics.

The problem we have to face is, that in western countries, uncrackable encryption technologies are forbidden to use in private environments. Well, single people could try to use it, but phone companies or internet providers would be out of business as soon as they tried to implement this technology (which would take their communication out of reach of the police or any other authority and simply therefore is not wanted).

The national governments, the military and the secret services use the algorithm since it has been invented, no doubt at all.

Don't ask me for links, I'm really not very interested in this stuff and I've long forgotten even the basics of the algorithm, and I don't have an idea if the Chinese now really have invented something better, but yes, uncrackable encryption is not the problem, it has been invented long ago. The government monopoly to use these technologies is the problem for our everyday communication.

Cheers!

Nothing beats this, it is mathematically impossible ot break. Anything done on a computer or based on an algorhythm is by default possible to break, no matter what. Thought it can be made hard, anything generated by a computer or a math equation cannot possibly be a truly random number since there is an algorhythm, or a method by which that number came to be, behind it.

The only way to truly have encrypted information is to do it like the soviets, nazi's and CIA have done in the past. You must use nature to generate random numbers, and then use them ona secure medium, that medium being usually paper.

It's called One Time Pad's:

http://users.telenet.be/d.rijmenants/en/onetimepad.htm

It's one of the oldest spy tricks in the book. It can relay short messages that are absolutely, 100% impossible for any government with any computer to ever break, ever.

Part of a CIA one-time pad used by
Alexander Ogorodnikov
Source: KGB Archives

One-time pad booklet and microdot reader,
concealed in a toy truck and used by an
illegal agent that operated in Canada.
© Canadian Security Intelligence Service