Crypto Wars: The Fight for Privacy in the Digital Age: A Political History of Digital Encryption

The crypto wars have raged for half a century.

In the 1970s, digital privacy activists prophesied the emergence of an Orwellian State, made possible by computer-mediated mass surveillance. The antidote: digital encryption.

The U.S. government warned encryption would not only prevent surveillance of law-abiding citizens, but of criminals, terrorists, and foreign spies, ushering in a rival dystopian future.

Both parties fought to defend the citizenry from what they believed the most perilous t...