I didn’t know that Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens “was also a cryptographer for the Navy during World War II.” He was a proponent of individual privacy.
EDITED TO ADD (8/12): More on his cryptography career.
Bill • July 19, 2019 10:29 AM
@Clive – Or is just that those “of a thoughtful disposition” are proponents of privacy with or without a background in cryptography?
I would like to think thoughtfulness leads to supporting privacy.
gordo • July 19, 2019 11:28 AM
Considering the election meddling brouhahas of the last couple of years, here’s something that Americans don’t hear so much about, this, also, from Justice Stevens, in dissent:
“If taken seriously,” Stevens wrote in his opinion, “our colleagues’ assumption that the identity of a speaker has no relevance to the Government’s ability to regulate political speech would lead to some remarkable conclusions. … It would appear to afford the same protection to multinational corporations controlled by foreigners as to individual Americans.”
I suspect that much more money was spent in this manner, on the 2016 U.S. election, than we’ll ever know . . .
vas pup • July 19, 2019 1:04 PM
That is very interesting!
Deep knowledge of math and rules of logic is very helpful and important in judge/Justice work in particular when parties try to move your decision making into emotional field or/and utilizing sophisticated tools as logical fallacies.
65535 • July 20, 2019 1:32 AM
@ David
Very interesting.
One line that stuck out:
“…1941, having completed the Navy’s restricted correspondence course in cryptography, I went to the Great Lakes, Naval Station…”-stationhypo
ht tps://stationhypo.com/2019/07/17/remembering-the-honorable-john-paul-stevens-justice-u-s-supreme-court-and-wwii-navy-cryptologist/
Is this “correspondence course in cryptography” comprehisive or just cryptography 101 where more complete courses will be needed to code break?
@ crypto experts
In today vast world of cryptographic science is it possible to study crypotography via a correspondence course? Does anyone have an example of a cryptographic correspondendence course?
Wael • July 20, 2019 2:32 AM
@65535,
Does anyone have an example of a cryptographic correspondendence course?
There are many similar links.
Jay • July 21, 2019 9:08 AM
He worked in the naval SIGINT station at Pearl Harbor, doing the same sort of work as Bletchley Park. “Stanley Moe, Kimmy Lee, and I worked together around the clock for three or four days to break a new daily-changing call sign encyperment system”, plus traffic analysis. His unit worked on JN-25, but not Purple.
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
Clive Robinson • July 19, 2019 9:02 AM
@ Bruce,
Which tells me his time as a “cryptographer for the Navy” was not wasted.
It’s interesting to note just how many that have been involved with cryptography and are of a thoughtfull disposition are proponents for privacy.