TheCodeBreakers
element of
national power. Nations use that power to advance their political and
social goals. Cryptography and cryptanalysis are means to those ends.
And that is their position in the ultimate scheme of things.
Even when the ends that they serve are purely defensive in regard to
other nations, there exists a difference in morality between the means of
cryptanalysis and such means as armies and navies. The latter are
honest and above-board, open deterrents to aggression; they are like
strong men armed. Cryptanalysis is itself an aggression— often a
preventive one, to be sure—but still an aggression, a trespass. Moreover,
it is surreptitious, snooping, sneaking; it makes its government
hypocritical. It is the very opposite of all that is best in mankind. It
shatters the highest ethical precept: to do unto others as we would have
others do unto us.
Is it, then, ever morally justified? It is. A single act can be both moral
annaabi.ee 
