[pavritch]

Here's how I looked at it -- they are 1000x smarter than me on matters of encryption. It was totally unlikely I knew something they didn't. At most, I saved them a few hours on a matter of life and death, and I had minutes to make that decision. And recall, back then, people felt differently about the NSA. If this was a total spoof - the reality is I didn't give anything up. I didn't invent the encryption ciphers. I just packaged common ciphers in a user interface people really liked.

But in response to the people here who think I was tricked. That's not the case. What I didn't put in the post was that a team from the NSA visited me in California a few months later. But again, had I been tricked, it wouldn't have mattered.

[michaelmrose]

You remembered to mention the coffee cup but you forgot to mention the team from the NSA that visited you to confirm the authenticity of what sounds on the face like a story of you getting scammed.

I'm sorry this is utterly beyond belief.

[michaelmrose]

Are you OK with a freedom of information request regarding the NSA's request for your participation in helping the NSA break into your customers machines?

If I understand correctly such a request could be made by anyone running your software.