Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption [Hardcover]

Whitfield Diffie (Author), Susan Landau (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262042401 | ISBN-13: 978-0262042406 | Publication Date: March 30, 2007 | Edition: updated and expanded edition

Telecommunication has never been perfectly secure. The Cold War culture of recording devices in telephone receivers and bugged embassy offices has been succeeded by a post-9/11 world of NSA wiretaps and demands for data retention. Although the 1990s battle for individual and commercial freedom to use cryptography was won, growth in the use of cryptography has been slow. Meanwhile, regulations requiring that the computer and communication industries build spying into their systems for government convenience have increased rapidly. The application of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act has expanded beyond the intent of Congress to apply to voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and other modern data services; attempts are being made to require ISPs to retain their data for years in case the government wants it; and data mining techniques developed for commercial marketing applications are being applied to widespread surveillance of the population. InPrivacy on the Line, Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau strip away the hype surrounding the policy debate over privacy to examine the national security, law enforcement, commercial, and civil liberties issues. They discuss the social function of privacy, how it underlies a democratic society, and what happens when it is lost. This updated and expanded edition revises their original--and prescient--discussions of both policy and technology in light of recent controversies over NSA spying and other government threats to communications privacy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A compact and intelligible guide to both the technical and the political issues." Laurence A. Marschall The Sciences

"A superb and timely introduction to a subject of enormous importance for scholars and citizens alike." A. P. Simonds Choice

"A well-researched and fascinating study." Lawrence Rothstein Law and Politics Review

"A wise, meticulously researched guide..." London Review of Books

"An incredibly comprehensive insight into the world of encryption and wiretaps, its political machinations, legal aspects, technologies, vulnerabilities, costs, limitations, and near-ubiquity." G. Ernest Govea Security Management

"Diffie and Landau deserve a large audience. Their lucid exposition adds valuable context to debates that for too long have been abstract." Aziz Huq The American Prospect

"Should be required reading for any computing student at any level." Harold Thimbleby New Scientist

"The book details numerous privacy issues, from personal privacy to national security.... A welcome surprise is that the book often reads like a Tom Clancy novel, interwoven as it is with episodes of domestic and international intrigue.... A timely and important book." Ben Rothke Security Management

"A compact and intelligible guide to both the technical and the political issues." Laurence A. Marschall The Sciences

"A superb and timely introduction to a subject of enormous importance for scholars and citizens alike." A. P. Simonds Choice

"[A] wise, meticulously researched guide..." London Review of Books

"Should be required reading for any computing student at any level." Harold Thimbleby New Scientist

"The book details numerous privacy issues, from personal privacy to national security.... A welcome surprise is that the book often reads like a Tom Clancy novel, interwoven as it is with episodes of domestic and international intrigue... A timely and important book." Ben Rothke Security Management

About the Author

Whitfield Diffie, the inventor of public-key cryptography, is Visiting Professor at Royal Holloway College at the University of London. Susan Landau is currently a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. She is also the coauthor (with Whitfield Diffie) of Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption (MIT Press, updated and expanded edition, 2007, 2010).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; updated and expanded edition edition (March 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262042401
• ISBN-13: 978-0262042406
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anyone in math or cryptography knows about author Whitfield Diffie, December 3, 2009

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R. Eye (Maryland) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption (Hardcover)

I bought this book while taking a graduate course in Cryptography for a research paper on privacy and encryption. The field is rather fascinating and this book does an excellent job of providing the whys for some of the recent legislation. Anyone who is concerned about social networking Internet sites and Internet privacy should read this book. It uses no scare tactics or big brother is watching you drama, it is based on research and facts and presents the current state of affairs in privacy in a professional manner. Whitfield Diffie has been instrumental in helping to bring the field of Cryptanalysis from a linguist-based discipline to a mathematical one (Diffie-Hellman symmetric encryption key exchange or Alice & Bob exchanging secure messages examples) and this book is a logical extension of his craft. I found it chock full of information I did not know about how the concept of privacy has evolved and with it the evolving legislation. If you are aware of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuits regarding the unethical (and for At&T unlawful) surveillance (capture of data) of American citizens and just about anyone who has a computer or a cell phone by the commiseration of NSA and At&T in San Francisco, CA, it would help if you read this book to understand how we reached these new heights in the invasion of personal privacy and introduce you to cryptography's role in it. Highly recommend.