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