Jean-Francois Blanchette
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262017510
- eISBN:
- 9780262301565
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262017510.001.0001
- Subject:
- Information Science, Information Science
The gradual disappearance of paper and its familiar evidential qualities affects almost every dimension of contemporary life. From health records to ballots, almost all documents are now digitized at ...
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The gradual disappearance of paper and its familiar evidential qualities affects almost every dimension of contemporary life. From health records to ballots, almost all documents are now digitized at some point of their life cycle, easily copied, altered, and distributed. This book examines the challenge of defining a new evidentiary framework for electronic documents, focusing on the design of a digital equivalent to handwritten signatures. From the blackboards of mathematicians to the halls of legislative assemblies, the book traces the path of such an equivalent: digital signatures based on the mathematics of public-key cryptography. In the mid-1990s, cryptographic signatures formed the centerpiece of a worldwide wave of legal reform and of an ambitious cryptographic research agenda that sought to build privacy, anonymity, and accountability into the very infrastructure of the Internet. Yet markets for cryptographic products collapsed in the aftermath of the dot-com boom and bust along with cryptography’s social projects. The book describes the trials of French bureaucracies as they wrestled with the application of electronic signatures to real estate contracts, birth certificates, and land titles, and tracks the convoluted paths through which electronic documents acquire moral authority. These paths suggest that the material world need not merely succumb to the virtual but, rather, can usefully inspire it. Indeed, the book argues, in renewing their engagement with the material world, cryptographers might also find the key to broader acceptance of their design goals.Less
The gradual disappearance of paper and its familiar evidential qualities affects almost every dimension of contemporary life. From health records to ballots, almost all documents are now digitized at some point of their life cycle, easily copied, altered, and distributed. This book examines the challenge of defining a new evidentiary framework for electronic documents, focusing on the design of a digital equivalent to handwritten signatures. From the blackboards of mathematicians to the halls of legislative assemblies, the book traces the path of such an equivalent: digital signatures based on the mathematics of public-key cryptography. In the mid-1990s, cryptographic signatures formed the centerpiece of a worldwide wave of legal reform and of an ambitious cryptographic research agenda that sought to build privacy, anonymity, and accountability into the very infrastructure of the Internet. Yet markets for cryptographic products collapsed in the aftermath of the dot-com boom and bust along with cryptography’s social projects. The book describes the trials of French bureaucracies as they wrestled with the application of electronic signatures to real estate contracts, birth certificates, and land titles, and tracks the convoluted paths through which electronic documents acquire moral authority. These paths suggest that the material world need not merely succumb to the virtual but, rather, can usefully inspire it. Indeed, the book argues, in renewing their engagement with the material world, cryptographers might also find the key to broader acceptance of their design goals.
Keith M. Martin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- July 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198788003
- eISBN:
- 9780191829956
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198788003.003.0001
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Computational Mathematics / Optimization, Logic / Computer Science / Mathematical Philosophy
This chapter serves as an introduction to the environment in which cryptography finds common use today. We discuss the need for cryptography, as well as the basic language and concepts that are used ...
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This chapter serves as an introduction to the environment in which cryptography finds common use today. We discuss the need for cryptography, as well as the basic language and concepts that are used to describe a cryptographic system. We introduce the core security services, such as confidentiality, data integrity, and authentication, which are delivered by cryptography in order to support modern security technologies. We introduce both symmetric and public-key cryptosystems, and discuss the differences between them. Finally, we consider ways in which cryptosystems can be attacked or compromised.Less
This chapter serves as an introduction to the environment in which cryptography finds common use today. We discuss the need for cryptography, as well as the basic language and concepts that are used to describe a cryptographic system. We introduce the core security services, such as confidentiality, data integrity, and authentication, which are delivered by cryptography in order to support modern security technologies. We introduce both symmetric and public-key cryptosystems, and discuss the differences between them. Finally, we consider ways in which cryptosystems can be attacked or compromised.
Lance Fortnow
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691175782
- eISBN:
- 9781400846610
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691175782.003.0008
- Subject:
- Computer Science, Programming Languages
This chapter analyzes how, in 1976, Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman suggested that one could use NP to hide one's own secrets. The field of cryptography, the study of secret messages, changed ...
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This chapter analyzes how, in 1976, Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman suggested that one could use NP to hide one's own secrets. The field of cryptography, the study of secret messages, changed forever. Diffie and Hellman, building on earlier work of Roger Merkle, proposed a method to get around the problem of network security using what they called “public-key” cryptography. A computer would generate two keys, a public key and a private key. The computer would store the private key, never putting that key on the network. The public key would be sent over the network broadcast to everyone. Diffie and Hellman's idea was to develop a cryptosystem that used the public key for encrypting messages, turning the real message into a coded one. The public key would not be able to decrypt the message. Only the private key could decrypt the message.Less
This chapter analyzes how, in 1976, Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman suggested that one could use NP to hide one's own secrets. The field of cryptography, the study of secret messages, changed forever. Diffie and Hellman, building on earlier work of Roger Merkle, proposed a method to get around the problem of network security using what they called “public-key” cryptography. A computer would generate two keys, a public key and a private key. The computer would store the private key, never putting that key on the network. The public key would be sent over the network broadcast to everyone. Diffie and Hellman's idea was to develop a cryptosystem that used the public key for encrypting messages, turning the real message into a coded one. The public key would not be able to decrypt the message. Only the private key could decrypt the message.
Jack Parkin
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197515075
- eISBN:
- 9780197515112
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197515075.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization, Political Economy
The fourth chapter describes how technological decentralisation emerged with advancements in cryptography and acted as a political counterweight of resistance to the encroachment of centralised ...
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The fourth chapter describes how technological decentralisation emerged with advancements in cryptography and acted as a political counterweight of resistance to the encroachment of centralised governments across (online) spaces. The decentralist worldview is shown to be rooted in the specific political geography of the West Coast of the United States that, during the latter half of the 20th century, became a crucible of counterculture and entrepreneurship. Fuelled by this vision, a monetarist desire to create fairer economies through algorithmic decentralisation gave rise to the advent of cryptocurrencies. The intersection and slippage of this technologically deterministic imaginary (preaching a freedom from hierarchy and control) with geographies of material practice is developed throughout following chapters.Less
The fourth chapter describes how technological decentralisation emerged with advancements in cryptography and acted as a political counterweight of resistance to the encroachment of centralised governments across (online) spaces. The decentralist worldview is shown to be rooted in the specific political geography of the West Coast of the United States that, during the latter half of the 20th century, became a crucible of counterculture and entrepreneurship. Fuelled by this vision, a monetarist desire to create fairer economies through algorithmic decentralisation gave rise to the advent of cryptocurrencies. The intersection and slippage of this technologically deterministic imaginary (preaching a freedom from hierarchy and control) with geographies of material practice is developed throughout following chapters.
Chris Bleakley
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198853732
- eISBN:
- 9780191888168
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198853732.003.0007
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics, Logic / Computer Science / Mathematical Philosophy
Chapter 7 exposes the algorithms that are the foundations of the Internet. The Internet relies on “packet-switching” to transfer data between computers. Messages are broken into ‘‘packets’’ of data ...
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Chapter 7 exposes the algorithms that are the foundations of the Internet. The Internet relies on “packet-switching” to transfer data between computers. Messages are broken into ‘‘packets’’ of data and these packets are routed across the network in a series of hops between linked computers. The advantage of packet-switching is that the network is easily extended and is robust to isolated computer failures. Data sent on the Internet is protected from errors by means of an algorithm invented by Richard Hamming. His algorithm adds information to packets, enabling receiving computers to detect and correct transmission errors. Communication on the Internet is secured by means of an algorithm published in 1977. The RSA algorithm relies on the properties of large prime numbers to prevent eavesdroppers from reading encrypted messages.Less
Chapter 7 exposes the algorithms that are the foundations of the Internet. The Internet relies on “packet-switching” to transfer data between computers. Messages are broken into ‘‘packets’’ of data and these packets are routed across the network in a series of hops between linked computers. The advantage of packet-switching is that the network is easily extended and is robust to isolated computer failures. Data sent on the Internet is protected from errors by means of an algorithm invented by Richard Hamming. His algorithm adds information to packets, enabling receiving computers to detect and correct transmission errors. Communication on the Internet is secured by means of an algorithm published in 1977. The RSA algorithm relies on the properties of large prime numbers to prevent eavesdroppers from reading encrypted messages.
Chris Bleakley
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198853732
- eISBN:
- 9780191888168
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198853732.003.0013
- Subject:
- Mathematics, History of Mathematics, Logic / Computer Science / Mathematical Philosophy
Chapter 13 investigates cryptocurrency and quantum computing. Bitcoin – the world’s first cryptocurrency - was released by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Unlike conventional money, Bitcoin transactions ...
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Chapter 13 investigates cryptocurrency and quantum computing. Bitcoin – the world’s first cryptocurrency - was released by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Unlike conventional money, Bitcoin transactions are anonymous - maintained by a worldwide collection of computers operated by volunteers. Bitcoin took off on the black market but then migrated to legitimate business. The current value of all bitcoins is a staggering $41 billion. Strangely, no one knows who Nakamoto is – he, she, or they have yet to reveal themselves. Quantum computing was first proposed by physicist Richard Feynman in 1981. His idea was that the weird behaviour of sub-atomic particles could be exploited to perform computations. In theory, quantum computing allows huge numbers of calculations to be performed simultaneously. Google, IBM and others are now in race to build a practical quantum computer. Such a machine might well crack the encryption algorithms that currently underpin both the Internet and Bitcoin.Less
Chapter 13 investigates cryptocurrency and quantum computing. Bitcoin – the world’s first cryptocurrency - was released by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Unlike conventional money, Bitcoin transactions are anonymous - maintained by a worldwide collection of computers operated by volunteers. Bitcoin took off on the black market but then migrated to legitimate business. The current value of all bitcoins is a staggering $41 billion. Strangely, no one knows who Nakamoto is – he, she, or they have yet to reveal themselves. Quantum computing was first proposed by physicist Richard Feynman in 1981. His idea was that the weird behaviour of sub-atomic particles could be exploited to perform computations. In theory, quantum computing allows huge numbers of calculations to be performed simultaneously. Google, IBM and others are now in race to build a practical quantum computer. Such a machine might well crack the encryption algorithms that currently underpin both the Internet and Bitcoin.
Jack Parkin
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- October 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197515075
- eISBN:
- 9780197515112
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197515075.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization, Political Economy
Chapter 1 opens the lid on Bitcoin so that all of its attributes, problems, and connotations come spilling out. At the same time, it pulls these disparate strands back into focus by outlining the ...
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Chapter 1 opens the lid on Bitcoin so that all of its attributes, problems, and connotations come spilling out. At the same time, it pulls these disparate strands back into focus by outlining the many discrepancies examined in subsequent chapters. So while in some ways the chapter acts like a primer for cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and their political economies, the material laid out works to set up the book’s underlying argument: asymmetric concentrations of power inevitably form though processes of algorithmic decentralisation. In the process, a short history of Bitcoin introduces some of its key stakeholders as well as some of its core technical functions.Less
Chapter 1 opens the lid on Bitcoin so that all of its attributes, problems, and connotations come spilling out. At the same time, it pulls these disparate strands back into focus by outlining the many discrepancies examined in subsequent chapters. So while in some ways the chapter acts like a primer for cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and their political economies, the material laid out works to set up the book’s underlying argument: asymmetric concentrations of power inevitably form though processes of algorithmic decentralisation. In the process, a short history of Bitcoin introduces some of its key stakeholders as well as some of its core technical functions.