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 ?
I wish I handoff thought of adding a hidden message. Oh wait it was my idea :P
ReplyDeleteAnyway overall good job it's concise and to the point. I like how you referenced to the cryptogram on the CIA building it's a perfect example of how even the beat minds in the world can't solve all problems which in a way relates back to the book as the DHS causes more problems in the way they try. To solve the original. Hmm constructive criticism, well next time you could always write the entire thing in a cryptogram. :P
Had of*
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post Kari. I'll get around to solving your crypto soon. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt really is quite true how encrypted messages give power over others, but more in the secrecy and not in the espionage or cryptography of it all. Marcus created a cycle with the DHS of who gets the power continuously throughout the book. I agree with Em on how the DHS causes more problems while trying to solve the original; it was exactly what happened in the book. This was a good post, and I think next time you should: 1. Do what Em said, it'd be fun to solve. and 2. I don't know, I can't find fault with your post; I really liked it. Just try and connect a bit back more to the book perhaps? :)
That was really interesting and I love how you talked about the artist and other people and how they have power over the many people that try to solve their crypto (good research!). Your very last sentence was a very good conclusion, because it is true that through solving this cryptography the secret is the thing that gives the power to a person. This blog could have been improved by adding a paragraph on how using the same crypto for everything is how they make sure that no one solves it in Little Brother, as Marcus mentions that quite a few times throughout the book and it holds some importance. Otherwise though, this was a great blog and i really enjoyed it! :)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting... I found your blog post very informative but I think I might have spent more time stressing over that crypto at the end that I did actually reading it. :P
ReplyDeleteI tried transposition, substitution, a few random combinations of the two and even tried messing with the binary equivalents of the letters. I got nothing though, good work. :D