Book Review: The secrets of cryptography

[An Metet]

by Joel Enos
January 08, 2001
J
At last, a book about secret codes that isn't boring or too technical! 


As any kid from any era knows, the pinnacle of privacy is the secret code (from decoder rings to James Bond to Harriet the Spy and beyond). So why is it that when most authors write about cryptography (or, as Steven Levy abbreviates it, "crypto") they leave out the fun factor and simply veer off into computer geek-speak about lines of data and whatnot? Who knows? And who cares now that Levy has written the definitive story of crypto so far, keeping all the excitement and drama surrounding the topic intact. 

Levy's latest work (he's also the author of "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution," which, when it appeared, made the term a permanent part of our Silicon subculture) has a writing style that's a seamless blend of his other lives, chief technology writer for Newsweek (thus a brisk, to-the-point tone), freelance writer for Wired ("Crypto" is speculative and analytical as much as it is informative) and for Macworld (while the book isn't techie, it's obvious Levy is, and, when he has to, he can explain code, and what it takes to crack one, quickly and easily). 


The result is a riveting story that begins with the meeting of Mary Fischer and Whitfield Diffie in the late '70s and moves on to the present-day controversy surrounding the delicate Internet balance of privacy vs. freely available information. 


The story does explain the background you'll need to comprehend what cryptography is (divisions between public and private keys, where they came from, etc.) and why it's important (many of us may not realize we reap its benefits every day, on everything from ATMs to online shopping), but sticks to the human element of the tale rather than simply "the facts." 


In the end, you get a history lesson and a new set of questions to ponder (such as, where is this all going to go?) filtered through the people at the core of the controversy. Levy interviewed basically all the privacy luminaries, from Fischer and Diffie to Phil Zimmerman (head of Pretty Good Privacy). From them, he's managed to create what reads more like a novel than a history book -- and certainly comes off nothing like a computer history book. 


Empowering the people 

For those who want to jump right to the juicy bits, the best section of Crypto is "Crypto Anarchy" focusing on Zimmerman's "hatred of Big Brother" and his drive to "write his own public key encryption program -- for the people" and the subsequent government backlash. 


Levy includes just enough verbatim legislation from the infamous U.S. Senate Bill 266 from 1991 (as worded by then head of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Joseph Biden) to strike fear in the hearts of all encryption nuts and privacy advocates. 


And his portrayal of Zimmerman as the freeware rebel flying around uploading PGP to the Net via a laptop, acoustic coupler and various pay phones is priceless. 


All in all, "Crypto" is a good introduction to a relatively young public policy issue (how private will the government allow us to be with our electronic communications?) that is only now starting to be addressed or even understood.