3 ms·
Given the timing, it must have raised some eyebrows - did they really have no knowledge of what was going on?
by trebligdivad 3y ago
Given the timing, it must have raised some eyebrows - did they really have no knowledge of what was going on?
- pvg 3y agoI think the GP misinterprets that bit in the paper and the assumption the author was unaware of the existence of electromechanical cryptographic machines is inaccurate. He’s arguing practical cryptography can be done without machines.
- tialaramex 3y agoI agree that the author is arguing you can do that. But he's wrong, you can't, it's monstrously difficult for a human to do what the machine does easily (yes I'm aware there's a flawed modern attempt described in the novel Cryptonomicon) and given the human propensity to fuck things up it's just futile. The War provided an excellent proof by fire, it's more obvious for Japan because they weren't using machines at the start at all, and so we broke literally everything. All "secret" radio communication by the Japanese was decoded, translated and handled as intelligence up until Purple (a machine) was introduced and then it got harder.
- pvg 3y agoYes, that argument was not a winning one.