From: “James M. Cobb” <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
To: REES@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk
Message Hash: 39f3a464d306d3e7b3904f5c628c00418bf167a4b6766d6fcded91eb29009274
Message ID: <Pine.BSD.3.91.951211221025.27737B-100000@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1995-12-13 03:34:09 UTC
Raw Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 11:34:09 +0800
From: "James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 11:34:09 +0800
To: REES@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Plea for information
Message-ID: <Pine.BSD.3.91.951211221025.27737B-100000@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Friend,
On 12 07 95 you sent a Plea for information to cypherpunks-
@toad.com.
You said:
I would be interested in learning more about the politics and
mathematics of cryptography....
[snip]
...I would like to know how best to understand cryptography -
I have a textbook on the basic mathematical concepts under-
lying the techniques but it is too advanced for my current
knowledge in this field (A-level - ie. end of high school),
please can you suggest a good starting place for me.
I suggest you lay aside the maths for a time and buy a copy
of:
Bruce Schneier
E-Mail Security. How to Keep Your Electronic Messages
Private
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
1995
I enquired this morning at Wiley's NY office and was told:
(a) the book is available in the UK
(b) the phone number of Wiley's Chichester office is
44 1243 779 777
Here's the book's Contents in Brief:
Part I: Privacy and Electronic Mail
Chapter 1: The Problem
Chapter 2: Encryption
Chapter 3: Key Management
Chapter 4: Authentication
Chapter 5: Certificates
Chapter 6: Keeping Your Private Key Private
Chapter 7: Odds and Ends
Chapter 8: Patents, Governments, and Export Laws
Part II: Achieving Electronic-Mail Privacy
Chapter 9: Requirements and Features
Chapter 10: Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM)
Chapter 11: Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
Chapter 12: Comparing PGP and PEM
Chapter 13: Attacks Against PGP and PEM
Appendix A: Pretty Good Privacy
Appendix B: Privacy Enhanced Mail
Index
Appendix A = PGP User's Guide. Volume I: Essential Topics.
Appendix B = Request for Comments: 1421.
To study the book --not the same thing as just reading it--
you will need PGP to experiment with. An ingenious lad
should have little trouble...
After you have some concrete experience, it'll be easier to
see the relevance of the maths.
As regards "the politics...of cryptography," this excerpt
from the book's Foreward by William Murray should pique your
interest:
To the extent that E-mail proves to be important, we can
expect to see many attempts on the part of government
to coopt it in much the same way that they have coopted
the paper mail system. The excuses that it will use to
do so will be related to security. It will repeat the
claim of Cromwell's government ["many dangerous and wick-
ed designs...are daily contrived against the welfare of
this Commonwealth"] and will create whatever evidence is
required to convince the people of the validity of the
claim. Arguments to the contrary notwithstanding, the real
motive will be to maintain political control and influence.
Oklahoma? Whatever...
Cordially,
Jim
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1995-12-13 (Wed, 13 Dec 1995 11:34:09 +0800) - Re: Plea for information - “James M. Cobb” <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>