Cryptography and Espionage (Kyle.Y)

Cryptography (also referred to by some as cryptology) is a variety of espionage which is thought to have been in use since dates as far back as 1900BC and was found in Egypt. Some of the simplest varieties of encryption through cryptography are the methods of substitution and transposition. In the picture to the right is a key for a substitution crypto as you can see the letters in the inner ring have all been shifted clockwise by one letter. with this method and the same key shown in the image text like "The Moon" would read as "Sgd Lnno".



It may look simple at first but keep in mind that cryptography gets much more advanced than this. With the rise of the computer new ways of encrypting information was also developed. Traditionally changes were made to the order in which characters appeared and of course to the characters themselves. Before the computer it was not uncommon for cryptos of the hand-written variety to include unique symbols as well as letters. Now with computers changes could also be made to the binary values that a computer would use to interpret the letters/symbols. This is most likely the variety of encryption they would have been dealing with in the book "Little Brother" as we know Marcus was very influenced by technology.

"„VÆÆö VgV'—öæV" is how "hello everyone" appears after minor binary encryption. Anyone think they can tell me what I did to the binary values to get such a result? Clue: "&#" is used to prefix an ASCII value.

OH! and in case you didn't know there are some famous killers who used cryptography to hide their identity. The most recognized of them is the "Zodiac Killer" because his/her identity is still unknown!

Subversive Behavior (Shivani)

What is Subversive behavior? Subversive behavior occurs when people feel the need to disobey the government or other forms on enforcement because they do not agree with the methods said government or enforcers are using. Subversive behavior is all throughout Little Brother, taking forms of the Xnet, jamming, and the Vamp Mob.

The Xnet is formed for people who do not believe in what the DHS is doing in terms of 'security'. Marcus and his friends, feel if they don't stand up for whats right, no one will. As it turns out, there are many other teens who are thinking along the same lines, and join the Xnet in hopes to stop the DHS. This is where the Xnetters plan different ways to show the DHS that they will stand their ground, causing them to act subversively.

Jamming is something all Xnetters do to make the DHS' job hard. They are taking the identity of one person and giving it to the next. This makes it hard for the DHS to pull someone over due to their odd patterns in travel because the person they are physically speaking to does not have their actual identity. Given the number of Xnetters and all of them jamming on a daily biases, the DHS' job is now ten times more difficult.

The Vamp Mob is originally developed for as a diversion so Marcus and Ange can be freed but all the Xnetters come because they know it will annoy the DHS, again acting subversively. The Vamp Mob is scheduled to take place in a high traffic location, which doesn't do much to benefit the DHS in terms of the after math they must deal with. Once the DHS steps in, they capture Marcus and basically torture him. Now, I know there is a separate blog post about Torture so I won't go too much into detail about that. However, I do want to note that Marcus and the Xnetters knew the means the DHS would go to if they were to be captured. Having known this they still participate in subversive behavior. Which just goes to show how far people will go to prove their point.

Aside from the novel, subversive behavior is also clearly visible all around the world. Many people have heard about the Taliban and it, to me, is one of the more extreme cases of subversive behavior. This example shows how subversive behavior can escalate to a full scale war, which in this specific case, can go on for years.



More info about the Taliban - http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html

Technoculture is Super Rad

So lets start off with a basic definition to set the stage. Technoculture is the interaction of technology and culture. I bet you couldn't of guessed that one. Now with that in mind, we can move on to how it relates to the book.

Little Brother is entirely based around the use and abuse of technology in society. Marcus himself knows all the tricks of the trade, so to speak. He knows this stuff inside and out, gets through any sort security measure put in his way. But what has given him this edge? What has exactly made him so much more immersed then everyone else? There are many reasons to this, but we can't rule out the fact that techonoculture has clearly made a large imprint on our Marcus. Then we see the other side of the technoculture in the story, when the big bad Department of Homeland Security jumps in and begins to watch every citizen with an apprehensive eye and a big budget for some fancy tech. Our evolving culture has caused us to take this technology and manipulate it for our own vendettas, good or bad.

But wait a minute, lets look outside the book for a moment. For the sake of this brief experiment lets narrow down the definition of technology to any sort of device that requires electricity to function. Now take a look around you and see if you can count the number of technological devices in the room you're currently in, on one hand. If you could, congratulations, chances are though that you could not do this. This is because technology is substantially ingrained into our culture. Taking all of it away at one time would be akin to chopping off one of your legs then trying to run a marathon. I don't know about you, but I can't run a marathon with two legs.

Whether you like it or not, our society is built on technology. As we see in Little Brother, we can use this for good and bad purposes. And recently we've had to keep a close eye on the thin line between our own privacy and technoculture. I personally believe it's very important to understand how reliant we are on our devices, because as soon as we lose that understanding, we lose control of our culture.

Thanks for reading.

Oh by the way, here is a picture of a cat.

I think San Fransisco and Alcatraz are good settings for Little Brother for a couple of reasons. Firstly, The neighborhoods throughout San Fransisco make it easy to distinguish parts of the city. Secondly, Alcatraz is the most famous prison ever, making a pretty chill place to throw the characters in.

good chat kids

Media & Information - Vannida Khuth

Media is a way of how we connect with the world and get our information. Media comes from different types of communication such as Television, Magazines, Radios, Newspapers or the Internet. The book “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow is a great way of how Media and Information relate well to each other. Media through the book relates how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gives out the wrong information, and that makes people think the wrong way of what had really happened. For example, just like the concert the X-netters had at the park, the concert was a nice relaxing and calm party, until the police had told them to start fighting and cause a riot. The DHS could have said how it was the police’s idea of the fighting but they never did. Instead of showing nice pictures of the party the DHS decided to show the non-nice pictures and videos.

Media and Information also relates outside of the book “Little Brother” because when we read, hear or see things on the news, internet, radio and such we always assume that it is true. We assume things like this on the news and radio is true because we don’t know what really happened and we assume that the person who wrote or said it was there and they know that it was true. Media is a great way in some ways because some of the media that was put out about Marcus made everybody like him and made him like a hero and everybody looks upon him.

Information is just as well as important as Media. We all get our information from the news or radio or TV. When we read information on the news or internet, our first thought to it is that we think and assume that all of it is true but it most cases some of it is not and is made up by most people. Information relates well to “Little Brother” because the information the DHS gives out about the X-netters is not true and they try to make things sound worse than what it actually was. In the end Media and Information will always be used by people, even if it’s true or not true.

Flash Mobs and Torture...

Before I explain how this relates to the book... Let me just give a quick definition.

Flash Mobs:

Flash Mobs are a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place to perform unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless acts for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment and/or satire.

For example: I could start a flash mob right now. Who wants to go downtown and start a food fight?
That's how pointless flash mobs are. In fact a few years ago a large-scale pillowfight ran in Toronto. Flash mobs don't form together to prove a point... They form to have fun or make fun of current events.

So how does this relate to the book?
Trudy Doo hosts the concert for Don't trust anyone over 25! This would be considered a flash mob. Most of the time (if the mob is not rioting), they will be given a warning to stop. However, in LB, the flash mob is broken by pepper spray, beatings and threats (which sounds pretty cool to use against hermit hipsters).

Now to the "fun" part... Torture:

Torture, is any act that includes physical/mental  pain or suffering in order to recieve information or a confession. Throughout history, torture has been used (example throwing a "witch" in the lake), espeically when they didn't know it was a bad thing. Torture is not only down right low, for some it's sadistic...ew.

Luckly, the Geneva Convention and Amnesty international forbids the use of torture. It doesn't mean the world stops doing it.

So finally, how does this relate to the book?
When Marcus is sent to Alcatraz he and his friends undergo a strange mental torture. Even though they are fed, clothed and kept in good shelter, they feel threated and feel their rights have been taken from them. Daryl, (after they find him) obviously had some sort of physical/emotional torture inflicted upon him. I mean, do you think he ripped off his paper gown, crawled into the corner and sported the fetal position for fun? Yeah, I didn't think so either...


Overall, the themes of Flash Mobs and Torture are used in the novel Little Brother.

Cryptos and Espionage (Kari V.)

The use of crypto has been around for centuries. People have always used cryptography as a way of keeping something secret or unknown to their “enemy”. This relates to the idea of power, and taking control of a situation. You can see continuous examples in the book Little Brother and in the real world of how cryptography and espionage are used to gain or remove power from an opposing party.

In World War II, the Polish Cipher Bureau, who solved the German cipher and gave decryption methods to the French and British Forces, gave the Allied forces the position of power. Having the ability to communicate privately gives you an edge over the competition but once there is a leak in that communication (a successful use of espionage) the position of power can be reversed. Another example of this can be seen in the sculpture called “Kryptos” outside the CIA headquarters, which is covered in encrypted messages. The fact that the encrypted message of the artwork is unknown to anyone but the artist, gives him power over many people. For over twenty years cryptanalysts having being working tirelessly to crack this code and would probably give anything to learn those last few words that remain unsolved. The creator, Jim Sanborn himself said “The whole thing is about the power of secrecy”.

This becomes clear in the book Little Brother as throughout the book Marcus and his Xnetter friends are always searching for a way to communicate without being heard, in order to gain power over the Department of Homeland Security. By encrypting everything, Marcus believed that he could control who was thought of as potentially “guilty” and also what the DHS could do about it, giving him the power. The DHS would then use espionage to gain this knowledge and flip the situation upside down to take back the control, creating an ongoing battle for power over San Francisco. However, power is not in cryptography and it is not in espionage. The power is in the secret and the knowledge that comes with it.

For Further Reading:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-05/ff_kryptos
http://elonka.com/kryptos/

And if you ever think you have solved the remaining 97 letters on the "Kryptos" statue submit it to Jim Sanborn via : http://kryptosclue.com/clue/clue.html :)

Here is a nice cryptogram for you to solve:

GKF IEO TEPZQ RMQ PKTR FHFQRI TQZQF PQRRQBT EF DHA TKFVEBF'T

TRKROQ ?