barbarous code - 01/30/04 03:20 PM
As Melvyn said to me recently... 
Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time Newsletter - 29/01/2004
Hello, here's for another of these after the programme notes:
After we'd finished the programme on Cryptography, Fred Piper was eager to point out that steganography (the concealing of a message) was far from dead. He'd hoped to get it in, but could not. One great advantage of steganography is that it does not need a key and, therefore, can be concealed by one person without communicating a cipher. Fred Piper said, and I quote accurately "the biggest danger at the moment is Osama Bin Laden's beard"! The exclamation mark (pace Lynne Truss) is my own. The extraordinary thing is that Fred Piper meant it.
Okay, here we go, as I understand it. There is a way of putting a message in the very discreet colouring of Bin Laden's beard, (I'm serious, please get in touch with Fred Piper at Holloway College!) which can be interpreted by those who know that the message is about to be delivered. They blow up the Beard massively and look at the pixels and can read from the changing of the pixel shades (of which there can be more than 60) the equivalent of a straightforward code which informs them that something will be attacked, or indeed orders them to attack a place at a certain time on a certain day.
It was also pointed out that in Burma, where all codes are banned, they had gone back to steganography. Nor did we quite get on to quantum matters. It is thought that quantum developments will lead to the final, perfect and secret code for all eternity. I'm still bothered by the fact that the English seem to do brilliant things - eg: Babbage and Mr Cocks of Cheltenham - and these are either uncredited or picked up by other nations who run with them and make tons of money.
Best wishes
Melvyn Bragg
Visit the In Our Time website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime and the Radio 4 Homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time Newsletter - 29/01/2004
Hello, here's for another of these after the programme notes:
After we'd finished the programme on Cryptography, Fred Piper was eager to point out that steganography (the concealing of a message) was far from dead. He'd hoped to get it in, but could not. One great advantage of steganography is that it does not need a key and, therefore, can be concealed by one person without communicating a cipher. Fred Piper said, and I quote accurately "the biggest danger at the moment is Osama Bin Laden's beard"! The exclamation mark (pace Lynne Truss) is my own. The extraordinary thing is that Fred Piper meant it.
Okay, here we go, as I understand it. There is a way of putting a message in the very discreet colouring of Bin Laden's beard, (I'm serious, please get in touch with Fred Piper at Holloway College!) which can be interpreted by those who know that the message is about to be delivered. They blow up the Beard massively and look at the pixels and can read from the changing of the pixel shades (of which there can be more than 60) the equivalent of a straightforward code which informs them that something will be attacked, or indeed orders them to attack a place at a certain time on a certain day.
It was also pointed out that in Burma, where all codes are banned, they had gone back to steganography. Nor did we quite get on to quantum matters. It is thought that quantum developments will lead to the final, perfect and secret code for all eternity. I'm still bothered by the fact that the English seem to do brilliant things - eg: Babbage and Mr Cocks of Cheltenham - and these are either uncredited or picked up by other nations who run with them and make tons of money.
Best wishes
Melvyn Bragg
Visit the In Our Time website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime and the Radio 4 Homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4