Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by pdkl95 3757 days ago
They monopolized the people that knew the math, written records that described the math, and the hardware that implemented the math. The actual crypto itself cannot be controlled, and in some cases was found by other through cryptanalysis or independently re-discovered.

That distinction is important - physical things like people or papers or computers can be controlled and hidden. It's much harder to keep knowledge itself bottled up, because there is always a risk that someone clever will discover it on their own.