# Could a scientific breakthrough be suppressed?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-scientific-breakthrough-be-suppressed/57202>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 8, 2001, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-scientific-breakthrough-be-suppressed/57202 "2001-03-08T06:38:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2001, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-scientific-breakthrough-be-suppressed/57202/21 "2001-03-10T00:01:09Z")

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Duck Duck Goose wrote:

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> people blab. Especially about something important (“I gave the President of the United States a blowjob!”)

Now now, she only blabbed about **that** because she was on the witness stand being threatened with perjury charges if she didn’t. And before that, she had only blabbed about **any** kind of Presidential intimacy to Linda Tripp – who, by the way, no sane person will ever trust with personal information again.

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**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-scientific-breakthrough-be-suppressed/57202/22 "2001-03-10T00:14:31Z")

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enolancooper wrote:

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> Lets say you come up with a computer program, based on a mathematical equation, which encrypts data so that unauthorised eyes can’t see what you’re storing or transmitting. Only those with the decryption key can unlock the data.  
> Guess what? If our government can’t break your code, they have the power to take your encryption program away from you!

Sort of.

It was my understanding that the old cold-war-holdover laws governing encryption software only forbade you from selling/giving the software to anybody outside of the U.S… (Hence Netscape Navigator comes with 128-bit encryption for U.S. customers, and weaker 56-bit encryption for all international customers.)

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-scientific-breakthrough-be-suppressed/57202/23 "2001-03-10T04:22:52Z")

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> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Lemur866 \*  
> **Hmph! Anthracite would have your head for that remark! Only a tiny fraction of our electricity is generated from oil. Most is coal, hydro, and nuclear. Coal, coal, coal! In Japan and France, most is nuclear. Japan has to import every drop of oil, every lump of coal, every slug of uranium.**

Hmmmmm! The Force is strong in This One… 😃

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