Strong cryptography
Convoluted secret writing
It appears so from the ancient Greek, looking it up in the dictionary.
If that is what it is, and not a mistaken interpretation. Say something is convoluted or "twisted" as with great strength, by a man who could squeeze a drop of water out of a dry rag. The Gordian Knot comes to mind, also ancient Greek.
Virile locker-room graphics
This is another Greek interpretation of the term “strong cryptography,” and probably equally valid, with the strong suggestion of something morally “twisted” to boot. One would have to think on the level of bubble-gum-chewing high school girls of an average or lower intelligence and gossiping ladies at the local bingo parlor who don’t think anything of “cryptography” but as a made-up, magic or psychic abstract word that happens to rhyme with “pornography.”
Regardless, there’s a Samson lifting weights at the gym, and he needs something like a heavy-duty padlock with a hardened boron nitride steel shackle to lock up his clothes, wallet, pistol, money, checkbook, etc. to keep all the Delilahs and the Philistines out. And the ancient Greeks would laugh you to scorn if you thought there was any such thing as a “men’s room” at any public place without ladies sneaking in to ply their trade on the said “men.”
So what is strong cryptography?
There’s public key cryptography, and the public doesn’t believe it exists. The desire of spies, whores and thieves to break it is too strong to be frustrated, and yet that is the very reason we need strong cryptography. We thought it existed and we depended on it. What happens if we find out it doesn't exist? Quantum crypto is the next thing coming down the pike, but the academics keep hiding their papers on the topic.
It should be clear. Cryptography is a martial art. We may safely assume that there are a number of men who all know each other, and they should have known better, but they came together and colluded to sell us bad curves and weak crypto. Strong cryptography is not something that will be given out for free, nor can it be bought with money. It must be fought for and won, and the price of it is in blood, and in the shedding of blood for freedom, privacy and private property.
The personal computers and communications devices which most of us use for everyday purposes of convenience only serve our enemies as instruments of espionoage against us, if we do not avail ourselves of the strongest possible cryptography that is reasonable and practical to employ for the defense and upbuilding of our own intelligence and for the compromise and corrosion of our enemies’ intelligence.
And why do we need it?
We refer our readers to Schneier on Security[1] for a very good if somewhat dated introduction to the topic. That author has in the meantime moved on to cover more topics of general computer networking security interest, on a premise that open source “strong cryptography” as such already exists and is well implemented.
And don’t forget Sun Tzu:
- I. Laying Plans ... 25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
- 26. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose [2].
High encryption
One might also speak of “highly encrypted” diplomatic cables or “highly classified” government documents as if these are held out of reach of our view or hearing. The same thing, in other words.
Morality at play
Some have argued that strong cryptography is a sin, and it certainly is in some respects a vice or a risk, but that is inherent to life, war and love, where all is fair. If it allows criminals to hide their crimes, it cannot hide the general atmosphere of criminality and vice that pervades the places where crime is occurring and the persons who are committing the crimes.
- Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. (Ecclesiastes 10:20.)
- For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. (Luke 8:17.)
If you need that sort of advice, take it as from a military general, and not from a preacher. The Bible commends the seeking out of wisdom and knowledge, rebukes eavesdroppers and busybodies in other men's matters, and only reiterates the need for extreme discretion, privacy and strong cryptography.
The role of the Roman Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic cathedrals of medieval Europe, and many of them still standing today, are infamous for their hidden libraries, crypts, catacombs and fornices, “fornix” being another word for a crypt or a vault, from which the word “fornication” derives, if one would imagine encrypting “love letters” for instance. However, in the Dark Ages, such underground places were used as federal jails or torture chambers by authority of the Roman Catholic Church alone with full sovereignty and immunity from local jurisdictions and courts of appeal, and too frightening to be visited for pleasure or love, with a reputation for hideous forms of extreme torture, mayhem and imprisonment.
- ↑ Bruce Schneier. Applied Cryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C. 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, 1996. https://www.schneier.com/books/applied-cryptography/
- ↑ Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Lionel Giles. The Internet Classics Archive. https://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html
