DATE=10/27/1999
TYPE=ENGLISH PROGRAMS FEATURE (INTERVIEW)
TITLE="THE CODE BOOK,' BY SIMON SINGH
NUMBER=7-32948
BYLINE=DAN NOBLE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=NANCY SMART
TELEPHONE=202 966-7412
CONTENT=
(Technology)
INTRO: In December, the Clinton administration is
expected to lift a ban on the export of
American made encryption products. Such
devices are used to ensure the privacy of data
transmitted across the Internet. But, the
subject of secret codes is nothing new. And,
the age old problem of trying to keep
information secret is the subject of a new
volume entitled "The Code Book." Dan Noble
speaks with Simon Singh, the volume's author.
DN: Dr. Singh, your book is in two parts. First,
you chart the evolution of codes. In the
second, you demonstrate how the subject is
more relevant today. When did codes really
begin?
SS: Before codes you have something called
steganography. Steganography is about hiding
the existence of a message. So, if I want you
send you a message, I take my messenger and I
might shave his head, tattoo the message on
the scalp, wait for the hair to re-grow, send
the messenger on his way. Then, when the
messenger reaches you, you shave his head and
reveal the message. That is simply hiding a
message. That particular example comes from
Herdotus...
DN: The ancient Greeks.
SS: .the ancient Greeks. But, in parallel with
steganography, where you are just hiding the
message, you have cryptography where you are
hiding the meaning of a message by scrambling
it up. That was really invented, in many
parts of the world, 300, 400, 500 years BC.
In India, the Kama-sutra talks about a method
of scrambling up messages. Women had to learn
64 arts, from poetry, to embroidery, to code
making. So, it's a very ancient practice.
DN: It is still relevant today. It's in the news.
SS: Yes. This is one of those things. People
tend to think of codes and cryptography as
being a medieval subject, or dominating the
Victorian era, or the First and Second World
War. But, today, we live in the information
age. Information is a commodity. The only
way you can protect that commodity is by using
encryption. There is this expression that
"Encryption will provide the locks and keys of
the information age."
DN: You tell us in your book that the question is
"Which do we value more: Our privacy, or an
effective police force?" Do we have to make
this dichotomy?
SS: The whole history of code making, code
breaking, is a battle between these two
opposing forces. Today, the code makers are
ahead. We have, effectively, unbreakable
codes, which is okay for you and me because
when I go back to London I can send you an e-
mail. I can encrypt it. We can be confident
that our privacy is secure. It is very good
for e-commerce because big Internet companies
can sell things on the Internet. And, again,
be sure that credit cards are protected, and
so on. The flip side of this is that
terrorists, drug dealers, organized crime and
so on can also use encryption to avoid wire
tapes and so on. Back in the 1960s one of the
reason why wiretaps increased in number was
that the police couldn't get people to testify
against the Mafia. Wire taps were a way of
gaining evidence in that sort of situation.
Now, if those groups use encryption, law
enforcers, security organizations, have lost
one vital tool in the way they gain
convictions and protect society. So, the
challenge for politicians and cryptographers
is to come with a system that allows us to
protect our privacy, but it doesn't allow
criminals to abuse the technology that exists.
(///OPT///)
DN: Dr. Singh, it certainly takes a creative mind
to develop encryption devices. What kind of
person do you finding doing this?
SS: It is strange because the impact of making or
breaking a code is enormous - whether it is
personal privacy, whether it's economically,
whether it's militarily. Countless lives have
been lost and saved because of the making or
breaking of a code. But I think the code
breakers and code makers themselves are
actually just curious people. They love
puzzles. They love solving problems. In a
way, they are quite innocent although the
consequences of their work are quite enormous
and quite profound.
(///END OPT///)
DN: Today we have a development known as quantum
cryptography. What is this?
SS: Quantum cryptography is a new form of code.
Today, we have incredibly secure codes. If
those codes were jeopardized, were broken,
than that would de-stabilize economies, de-
stabilize our privacy as individuals, de-
stabilize military balances. So, code makers
have already got something new up their sleeve
that they could use in such a situation. It
is known as quantum cryptography. It works
according to the following principal: In
quantum physics, whenever you observe
something, you necessarily change it. If I
stare at a dollar bill the photons must bounce
off the dollar bill and into my eye. That
impact, that momentum, will change the face of
the bill. Imperceptibly, but there will be a
change. Similarly, if I send you a message,
and that message is made of individual
electrons, or individual photons, if anybody
tries to intercept that message, they must
observe that message. If they observe it,
they change it. If they change it, we can
spot that change and we know there is an
observer there on the line. We can stop
communicating. So, quantum cryptography is a
way of preventing the interception of a
message, really, and therefore guaranteeing
security that way. It is thought to be
absolutely unbreakable. People have said this
through the centuries that a code is
unbreakable. But this seems to be truly,
truly unbreakable.
DN: Do you think it is?
SS: There are only two ways you will ever break
this code. One is if our understanding of the
laws of physics is fundamentally wrong. And,
secondly, if they are right, the only way to
break the code is to change the laws of
physics. Either way, it's a tough job.
DN: Thank you, very much, Dr. Singh. We've been
speaking with Simon Singh, author of "The Code
Book." I'm Dan Noble.
Neb/dn/nes
7
27-Oct-1999 13:45 PM EDT (27-Oct-1999 1745 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
