Crypto Audiobook By Steven Levy cover art

Crypto

How the Code Rebels Beat the Government - Saving Privacy in the Digital Age

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Crypto

By: Steven Levy
Narrated by: Rich Miller
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If you've ever made a secure purchase with your credit card over the internet, then you have seen cryptography, or "crypto", in action. From Stephen Levy - the author who made "hackers" a household word - comes this account of a revolution that is already affecting every citizen in the 21st century. Crypto tells the inside story of how a group of "crypto rebels" - nerds and visionaries turned freedom fighters - teamed up with corporate interests to beat Big Brother and ensure our privacy on the internet. Levy's history of one of the most controversial and important topics of the digital age sounds like the best futuristic fiction.

©2001 Steven Levy (P)2021 Tantor History History & Culture Security & Encryption Technology & Society Technology Computer Security Encryption Computer Science Electronic Warfare
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I think that this book does a very good job of engaging and entertaining the listener. I think the book does a good job of giving an overview of the history of cryptography in the United States, and the uneasy and, at times, adversarial relationship between the government and the private sector.

Engaging and entertaining

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Listtwn to this, to realize that it is now more important than ever to understand the history of the few modern freedom fighters.

Requires Listening

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Thank you cypherpunks! “We stand on the shoulders of giants “ and “Stay humble, stack sats “

Excellent history on public encryption

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This book is a fascinating read (listen). Told as a tightly woven evolutionary narrative, it covers the history of crypto up until 2000 in easily accessible language and concepts. Even as someone who has worked in Silicon Valley since the 1990s, I had never even heard some of the stories that are included here. My only regret is that Steven Levy wrote it in 2000, and not in 2020. I would love to read his take on the succeeding 20 years.

Wish it could be updated today

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I’m just now wrapping up Applied Cryptography at Georgia Tech’s online masters in Computer Science. This book was recommended in passing in the class, so I downloaded it and started listening. It does a fantastic job of peering into the lives of the small list of folks who changed our modern world. Then interactions between academia, government, and the private sector are fascinating. There are so many great stories in here that show what a strange chain of events got us to where we are now. I highly recommend this book. Its well written, well structured, and fascinating.

a fantastic journey through asymmetric cryptography

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