2021.06.10 14:25:46 (1402965208969015297) from Daniel J. Bernstein:
NIST's Dual EC post-mortem https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2017/05/09/VCAT-Report-on-NIST-Cryptographic-Standards-and-Guidelines-Process.pdf stated various transparency principles. It has been clear for a year that NIST isn't following those principles. Somehow I didn't realize until now that this is also why NIST refuses to formally label #NISTPQC as a "competition".
2021.06.10 14:30:43 (1402966453909819396) from Daniel J. Bernstein:
Running a "competition", as strongly recommended in the post-mortem, would _force_ NIST to follow various procedural rules, including general due-process rules and NIST's own declarations of how a "competition" works. So NIST repeatedly insists that NISTPQC isn't a "competition".
2021.06.10 14:36:31 (1402967915918336004) from Daniel J. Bernstein:
Of course it _is_ a competition, and NIST people keep slipping up and calling it a competition and saying whoops-we're-not-allowed-to-call-it-that, and everybody laughs. There's also a cover story claiming, falsely, that a "competition" isn't allowed to select multiple outputs.