> Alice and Bob are talking past each other here. (-;

Seems that way. :) Watch out for Eve/your-variant-here!

> The mechanisms to secure wires must be open source, at the forefront of 
> computer science research. And don't forget those compromising radiations! 
> When I was a kid the popularizations of science used to discuss masers 
> frequently, but for some reason we don't hear very much about them any 
> more...

I have no idea about masers? :) But I still am a kid, so...

> The actual keys and codes, and the locations where a given program bypasses 
> them, might be closed source.

I agree completely - but then I tend to lump the keys/code as
implementation/site-specific details, rather than as a part of the code
itself.

Even when developing an application for a single site, I tend to view
the project very strongly in terms of separating the base software and
implementation aspects, as strongly as your RoR programmer will try to
keep MVC separated. It's easier to maintain, and helps semantics like
this remain clear.

I think I digressed. My $0.02. :)

 - Arlen.