Math 1111: Cryptography

"The Domestic Surveillance Directorate - If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." Should the government have such free reign over our personal information, or should we be able to keep our data encrypted and hidden from the government to respect our personal rights?

This resource provides access to articles, news, and blog posts regarding military embedded systems, often using cryptography. One article referenced the cryptography used to secure "Data at Rest" and the length at which this information should be held secure. Is it ethical to keep this information from the public when safety is no longer a concern? At what point should these well-kept secrets become accessible?

This is a cryptography blogger's translation of Kerckhoff's article about military cryptography. He denotes that secret methods of communication are limited to higher officers due to potential leakage; but by limiting cryptographic use, are they potentially putting at risk the safety of lesser positions in order to keep the secrecy of their cipher methods? Is this just the inevitable nature of cryptography in general?

Now that the NSA has declassified this information about cryptanalysis, either they can no longer utilize these methods of cryptography, or must do so with caution, knowing that anyone has the resources to crack them. Was it ethical of the NSA to release this information, especially if other countries still use these methods to create ciphers?

This blog has information about military cryptography and privacy in general, including this post about the Zimmermann Telegram. Is it ethical to lie to an ally if it is in their best interest? What are the ethics behind spying on one's allies? Do ethics hinder one's ability to win a war, and if so, should ethics be disregarded in times of war? Another interesting post examines how Snowden should be viewed as a patriot, not a traitor. This made me question where one's loyalty should remain- to the government or to the people?

This blog contains vast amounts of information dealing with military cryptography, both in the past and the present. One of the recent articles discussed the morality of utilizing military level cryptography to ensure complete surveillance of civilians, and whether or not it should be allowed.

Interesting article describing the people who worked at Bletchley Park (UK) during WWII and the secrecy act that kept them silent. The article makes compelling comparisons to people today like Edward Snowden, who are legally bound to secrecy but ignore it. What are the ethical implications of being asked to keep military secrets? Of sharing military secrets? How do the differences between today's generation and the WWII generation affect how these ethics are viewed?

This makes me wonder how ethical it is for the NSA to be so heavily involved in cryptography internationally. Are they building a backdoor into these crytographic systems? If so, how ethical could that be?

"Matt Blaze directs the Distributed Systems Lab at the University of Pennsylvania." This site links to his blog and research papers regarding topics of cryptography.

Good for resources; especially see references and further reading sections!

The Journal of Theoretical Physics and Cryptography is devoted to the rapid publication of fundamental research papers on all fields of theoretical physics and cryptography. All contributions shall be rigorously refereed and selecting on the basis of quality and originality of the work as well as the breadth of interest to readers.

Print your own TSA master keys!

A small town library in New Hampshire joins the anonymous Web surfing service Tor. Then the Department of Homeland Security shows up.

Hidden messages? Check. Cheating? Check. Seems on-topic for this course!

And here's that visualization of Girl Talk's 2010 album, All Day, that I showed in class.

Here's a 2008 New York Times piece on Girl Talk. Whether or not his fair use argument would hold up in court, it seems clear that music labels aren't particularly interested in suing him for his all-sample approach to music creation.

Interesting perspective how it's only in the news if someone's secrets are compromised, but not if their secrets are actually kept secret

And here's Bruce Schneier on that story about Apple's encryption policies thwarting justice. If you read the first piece, you should also read this one.

Here's a recent piece by security expert Bruce Schneier on quantum computing, which is different than quantum cryptography. (I conflated the two during class today.) Quantum computing is very fast computing that could be used to quickly break modern encryption schemes. Quantum cryptography involves sending messages that can't be read, since "looking" at them changes the message. Schneier offers some conjectures about where the NSA is with regard to both technologies.