Book details of 'Crypto : How the Code Rebels Beat the Government -- Saving Privacy in the Digital Age'

Title | Crypto : How the Code Rebels Beat the Government -- Saving Privacy in the Digital Age |
Author(s) | Steven Levy |
ISBN | 0670859508 |
Language | English |
Published | January 2001 |
Publisher | Viking Press |
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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Crypto : How the Code Rebels Beat the Government -- Saving Privacy in the Digital Age':
Reviewer Koos van den Hout wrote:The full history of modern computer cryptography. Includes the complete story of breakthroughs like asymmetric encryption which enables a lot of modern security. And the story of the relaxation of the export regulations, which worked against US companies for years. A great book to read, putting all the credit with the right names (for as far as possible with part of the research being classified).
I am quite a fan of Steven Levy and this book was no disappointment.
Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
If the National Security Agency (NSA) had wanted to make sure that strong encryption would reach the masses, it couldn't have done
much better than to tell the cranky geniuses of the world not to do it. Author Steven Levy, deservedly famous for his enlightening
Hackers, tells the story of the cypherpunks, their foes, and their allies in Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government. From the
determined research of Whitfield Diffie and Marty Hellman, in the face of the NSA's decades-old security lock, to the commercial
world's turn-of-the-century embrace of encrypted e-commerce, Levy finds drama and intellectual challenge everywhere he looks.
Although he writes, "Behind every great cryptographer, it seems, there is a driving pathology," his respect for the mathematicians and
programmers who spearheaded public key encryption as the solution to Information Age privacy invasion shines throughout. Even the
governmental bad guys are presented more as hapless control fetishists who lack the prescience to see the inevitability of strong
encryption as more than a conspiracy of evil.
Each cryptological advance that was made outside the confines of the NSA's Fort Meade complex was met with increasing legislative
and judicial resistance. Levy's storytelling acumen tugs the reader along through mathematical and legal hassles that would stop most
narratives in their tracks--his words make even the depressingly silly Clipper chip fiasco vibrant. Hardcore privacy nerds will value
Crypto as a review of 30 years of wrangling; those readers with less familiarity with the subject will find it a terrific and well-documented
launching pad for further research. From notables like Phil Zimmerman to obscure but important figures like James Ellis, Crypto dishes
the dirt on folks who know how to keep a secret.
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