[1]http://mashable.com/2013/09/19/linus-torvalds-backdoor-linux/
   No, the Government Never Asked Linus Torvalds for a Backdoor in Linux
   "Oh, Christ. It was obviously a joke, no government agency has ever
   asked me for a backdoor in Linux," Torvalds toldMashablevia email.
   "Really. Cross my heart and hope to die, really."

   On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 5:19 PM, Andy Isaacson <[2]adi@hexapodia.org>
   wrote:

   On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 02:48:37PM -0500, CypherPunk wrote:
   > On 09/19/2013 02:39 PM, Tom Ritter wrote:
   > >> Torvalds responded "no" while shaking his head "yes," as the
   > >> audience broke into spontaneous laughter.
   > >
   > > Is there any indication he took the question seriously and wasn't
   just
   > > making a joke? This is a lot to conclude from a single sentence.
   >
   > While he certainly could have been being humorous, I can't see why he
   > would have indicated 'yes' for any reason.

     Because it's funny, and one of the ways that humans deal with
     stressful
     situations is through humor.
     [3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_humour#Humor_as_defense_
     mechanism
     Having seen Linus give many talks through the years, I can assure
     you
     that he might make such a joke regardless of the true situation.

   > I mean, he could have made a
   > funny comment or something sarcastic or any number of other
   responses.
   > The shaking his head yes while saying now would seem to indicate that
   > he's been told not to say that he's been asked.

     Or it might indicate that he knew it would get a laugh from the
     audience. It's invalid to read detail into a single such comment.

   > It would seem logical that he would have been approached though. I
   mean,
   > they want total tech coverage. Why would Linux escape their
   attention?

     It would seem logical, yes. It would also seem logical for Them (tm)
     to
     game-theory two more stages, and specifically avoid asking the most
     prominent maintainers in favor of pressuring or encouraging
     lower-level
     contributors to insert (or avoid fixing) bugdoors. I don't think we
     have enough information to make an informed judgement which scenario
     has
     happened.
     -andy

References

   1. http://mashable.com/2013/09/19/linus-torvalds-backdoor-linux/
   2. mailto:adi@hexapodia.org
   3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_humour#Humor_as_defense_mechanism