Someone says it’s spooky, others call it weird, creepy, hilarious, …

I’m talking about the kid site released few months ago by the NSA. The “CryptoKids” are cartoon animals each with a passion for a different aspect of cryptography: Crypto Cat is a cryptographer making codes out of everything, Decipher Dog is a codebreaker, Slate is a bunny that loves math and so on. There are tons of games and activities to entertain and educate.

Yes, it’s probably disturbing that the NSA wants to talk to your kids, considering the NSA used to be nicknamed “No Such Agency” and considering the questionable support to recent wiretapping activities of president Bush.

Nonetheless exposing young minds to the beauty and fascination of cryptography cannot be harmful and it can even help them to understand what an extraordinary means to protect freedom it is.

“Encryption is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy, regardless of who is running the government. It’s hard to think of a more powerful, less dangerous tool for liberty.” Esther Dyson

PS
NSA is not the only US agency to target kids: CIA, NRO and FBI have similar programs aimed to educate and conceivably recruit kids …