Our open letter to Stephen Colbert...

Dear Stephen,

Last month, we learned that RSA accepted a $10 million bribe from the NSA to stick a backdoor in one of their encryption products, and to help the NSA make it a global standard.

Even though security researchers suspected an NSA backdoor, RSA lent their credibility to it. They betrayed the trust of Internet users everywhere.

We know you, Stephen, and we know you love a good "backdoor" joke as much as we do -- but this kind of backdoor is no laughing matter. If the NSA's secret key fell into the wrong hands, criminals and foreign governments could have done massive damage to both this nation and Colbert Nation.

Out of disgust with this massive betrayal, security expert Mikko Hypponen canceled his talk at the RSAC 2014 conference, and now others have followed. At least 11 speakers have pulled out of the conference in protest of RSA's secret love affair with Big Brother.

Whatever speech you had planned, we're sure it would be amazing. We want to hear it; we really do. The 2006 White House Press Corps Dinner? You killed it. But this isn't that. Not only will your speech not be broadcast to the public--it's also really hard to make jokes about surveillance that don't distract from how scummy and dangerous it is.

You're RSA's star speaker. Without you, the conference will be awful. And it should be. These guys are traitors.

Companies need to know that they can't betray our trust without repercussions. We want to hear your speech, but give it somewhere else! And if you're on the fence (you know, about this whole backdoor thing) have your people call us. Give us, like, 5 minutes. I bet we can convince you!

Will you be a hero for democracy, freedom, and security, Stephen? Will you cancel your keynote at RSAC?

Yours truly,

Nation