http://www.metafilter.com/tags/codebreaking Posts tagged with 'codebreaking' at MetaFilter. Fri, 22 Apr 2005 08:47:07 -0800 Fri, 22 Apr 2005 08:47:07 -0800 en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 http://www.metafilter.com/41440/Herbert%2DO%2DYardley%2Dand%2Dthe%2DBirth%2Dof%2DAmerican%2DCodebreaking <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17974">The Reader of Gentlemen's Mail</a> In the spring of 1919, when the father of American cryptography, <a href="http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/vol48no2/article13.html">Herbert</a> O. <a href="http://home.ca.inter.net/~hagelin/Yardley.html">Yardley</a>, drew up a plan for a permanent State Department codebreaking organization — a "<a href="http://www.militaryink.com/books/2004/september/1591149894.htm">black chamber</a> — he estimated that a modest $100,000 a year would buy a chief (Yardley) and fifty clerks and cryptanalysts. Yardley rented a three-story building in New York City: on East 38th Street just off Fifth Avenue, he put two dozen people to work under civilian cover—as the <a href="http://david-kahn.com/articles-charles-mendelsohn-envy.htm">Code Compiling Company</a>. His summary dismissal happened in 1929 at the hand of incoming Secretary of State <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_L._Stimson">Henry Stimson</a>, who closed down the <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/roadtrip/0,2640,61137-2,00.html?tw=wn_story_page_next1">Cipher Bureau</a> with the <a href="http://www.remoteviewinghistory.com/intelligence-and-security-command-inscom.html">casual observation</a> that "<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/02/27/do2701.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/02/27/ixportal.html">gentlemen</a> <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3490120.stm">do</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300098464/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/">not</a> <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20040501fabook83325/david-kahn/the-reader-of-gentlemen-s-mail-herbert-o-yardley-and-the-birth-of-american-codebreaking.html">read</a> <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19911201faessay6118/david-kahn/the-intelligence-failure-of-pearl-harbor.html">each</a> <a href="http://www.americanscientist.org/template/BookReviewTypeDetail/assetid/34017;jsessionid=baafRxmDFUg0Jf">other's</a> <a href="http://www.public-domain-content.com/books/cia_factbook_on_intelligence/intel_overview.shtml">mail</a>". The son of a railroad telegrapher, a man with a lively Jazz Age interest in money, good-looking women, and drinks at five, Yardley not only taught his country how to read other people's mail but wrote two of the enduring American books—the memoir <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591149894/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/">The American Black Chamber</a> <small>(1931)</small>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0964294915/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/">The Education of a Poker Player</a> <small>(1957)</small>. tag:metafilter.com,2005:site.41440 Fri, 22 Apr 2005 08:47:07 -0800 books CIA codebreaking cryptography history NSA poker USA UShistory matteo http://www.metafilter.com/29210/Decrypt%2Dand%2DEnjoy Cinco: <a href="http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/5118/beatles/i_me_mine-ly.html" title="missing pivotal pronoun">2</a> <a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gaz18jf/weapon-of-choice.html" title="you couldn't go with that">4</a> <a href="http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/" title="assuming his nick wasn't bill">4</a> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0950759/" title="ignore the crane, switch 1">6</a> <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/" title="first thing's first, in more ways than one">5</a> <a href="http://www.misterpants.com/" title="he emails now, discounting propriety for clue">4</a> <a href="http://www.cincinnatifertility.com/images/sperm.jpg" title="NSFW verb">5</a> <a href="http://www.r-project.org/" title="feeling lucky? then expand">3</a> <a href="http://ukulele.org/" title="Kay Lee's gotta go">3</a> <a href="http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/gcarr/19cUSWW/CPG/GW.html" title="consider acronyms and taxonomy">4</a> <a href="http://www.neildiamond.com/" title="he croons, he sings; first phrase, to second person">3</a> <a href="http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/fromm.html" title="beyond the change, did he mention how close?">4</a> <a href="http://www.medical-thriller.com/rafael_yglesias.html" title="he burned bridges across the weir">8</a> <a href="http://www.banjobook.com/compcd.htm" title="a lot of trouble when you consider shorthand">4</a> <a href="http://www.longs.com/" title="the hive isn't spoken for">7</a> <a href="http://www.apple.com/switch/" title="well, if you can't flip it on...">3</a> <a href="http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/staff/blynds/rnbw.html" title="a natural public preface">7</a> <a href="http://www.picturesolutions.com/academy_leader.htm" title="it thanks the academy">6</a> <a href="http://www.ups.com/" title="subtract the service">2</a> <a href="http://www.priorityclubpromotion.com/hi/towels/over.cfm" title="granting amnesty helps it check; but it's in the green">2</a> <a href="http://www.mrdo.com/mrdo/" title="to be fair to pants, he's not the only one getting stiffed; ergo...">2</a> <a href="http://www.metaweb.com/wiki/wiki.phtml?title=Main_Page" title="ostensibly, the source">11</a> <a href="http://www.thewelcomemat.net/" title="worn out its welcome">3</a> <a href="http://wdb.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_genuine_definite_article/" title="parenthetically more important; consult title">3</a> <a href="http://www.metafilter.com" title="opposite the last clue">1</a> <a href="http://pages.sbcglobal.net/zyzzyvas/aeio7.html" title="something's missing">3</a> <a href="http://www.women.com/dating/hell/articles/0,,272716_408734,00.html" title="the clue will talk if you kill one">3</a> <a href="http://bbs.thing.net/login.thing" title="all work and nothing; it precedes this mighty hillock; see the second clue">4</a> <a href="http://surrender.fayeded.com/" title="not denver's sweet, but weller's turn">4</a> <a href="http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/" title="he doesn't have a D cup">6</a> <a href="http://www.askmen.com/men/entertainment_60/87_eddie_murphy.html" title="he wants, particularly in this context">4</a> <a href="http://www.burgerking.com/" title="jaundice? in a certain way; consult the tome's title">6</a> <a href="http://www.tlhs.org/" title="don't trim, just hop">5</a> <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/user.mefi/986" title="simple clue">7</a> <a href="http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/" title="out doctors and borders; what's left?">4</a> <a href="http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/staceyq.htm" title="sans stacey; add ralphie's gun before; further hint: acronym">3</a> <a href="http://www.stephenking.com/index_flash.php" title="he needs something from yul brynner">1</a> <a href="http://www.philos.rug.nl/~martin/" title="my guess is he doesn't laugh much; insert apostrophe">3</a> <a href="http://www.sewing.com/" title="action here without ing">3</a> <a href="http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/marx.htm" title="surname's verboeten">4</a> <a href="http://pbskids.org/rogers/" title="this adjective in his main mantra has different meaning for boozehound, tartar?">7</a> <a href="http://www.popula.com/ifp/LP_471/Cha-Ching!_%20Money%20Cli_348012.htm" title="stop dancing and dwell on the sound">5</a> <a href="http://disney.go.com/surfswell/index.html" title="second is redundant, but necessary here">5</a> <a href="http://www.screensavershot.com/animals/cute.jpg" title="what's in a name?">4</a> <a href="http://www.xkot.net/archives/000753.html" title="subtract second">4</a> tag:metafilter.com,2003:site.29210 Mon, 27 Oct 2003 19:26:37 -0800 codebreaking codes ed