We’re still a long way from making a quantum leap in web code-breaking | John Naughton
Google has built a super-fast computer, but whether it can break the encryption we take for granted is moot
Something intriguing happened last week. A paper about quantum computing by a Google researcher making a startling claim appeared on a website – and then disappeared shortly afterwards. Conspiracy theorists immediately suspected that something sinister involving the National Security Agency was afoot. Spiritualists thought that it confirmed what they’ve always suspected about quantum phenomena. (It was, as one wag put it to me, a clear case of “Schrödinger’s Paper”.) Adherents of the cock-up theory of history (this columnist included) concluded that someone had just pushed the “publish” button prematurely, a suspicion apparently confirmed later
