Re: Plea for information

["James M. Cobb" <jcobb@ahcbsd1.ovnet.com>]

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