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> These cryptographic systems were not designed by the sculptor himself but by Edward Scheidt, who retired as chairman of the CIA’s Cryptographic Center in 1989

> These cryptographic systems were not designed by the sculptor himself but by Edward Scheidt, who retired as chairman of the CIA’s Cryptographic Center in 1989. The article left me with a nagging question: Doesn’t the designer of the codes deserve a share of the proceeds of the auction? He’s still alive according to Wikipedia. It sounds like the unsolved code is what makes the art especially valuable. Was the cryptographer’s effort a “work for hire”, so he doesn’t get anything from the sale?

elahieh 1y ago
Good point, and it's also entirely possible the code designer just did a terrible job. e.g. around 57:00 of https://youtu.be/JOXPYkjvDaA https://youtu.be/JOXPYkjvDaA As Kryptos gots a huge amount of media attention in 1999, references to him changed from "chairman of A cryptographic center" to "chairman of [THE] CIA's cryptographic center" when it doesn't even seem that it has such a center. And the featured story (around 52:00 of the video) has him apparently claiming credit for helping solve a Caesar cipher! https://web.archive.org/web/19990501000000*/http://www.tecsec.com/Ed%20Scheidt.htm https://web.archive.org/web/19990501000000*/http://www.tecse...