The flood [of cryptography tools] indeed is coming, and the agency charged with safeguarding and mastering encryption technologies is about to be thrust into a cypher age in which messages that once were clear will require tedious cracking – and may not be crackable at all.
Predictor: Levy, Steven
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for Wired magazine, Steven Levy writes about encryption issues: ”The flood [of cryptography tools] indeed is coming, and the agency charged with safeguarding and mastering encryption technologies is about to be thrust into a cypher age in which messages that once were clear will require tedious cracking – and may not be crackable at all. While it is impossible to read the government’s mind concerning the prospects of this scenario, its actions are telling. The strategy is one of resistance. The feds are stepping up the war between cryptoactivists and crypto suppressors … The stakes are high: in one view, our privacy; in the other view, our national security. The government [is] not above implicitly threatening independent cryptographers with jail.”
Biography:Steven Levy was a 1990s technology journalist. He wrote on the topic for decades for such publications as Newsweek and Wired. He is the author of the books “Hackers,” “Artificial Life” and “Crypto.” (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: May 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: Security/Encryption
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Crypto Rebels
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.02/crypto.rebels_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Lusk, James T.