4 ms·

Breaking the Zimmermann Telegram (2018)

85 points by tony-allan 9mo ago

urcite_ty_kokos 9mo ago
Jára Cimrman spotted
avidiax 9mo ago
Quite an interesting story, and it makes me wonder what modern stories are covers for intelligence capabilities. I feel there must be more of them, since computers and modern communication have created so many opportunities to spy.
- bombcar 9mo ago
  There’s even a term for it - “parallel construction” and it’s relatively common.
jadenpeterson 9mo ago
How did they accomplish this without a PM reminding them to get alignment?
jibal 9mo ago
https://medium.com/@paulgannonbike/for-a-more-accurate-account-see-my-blog-2f4457745ca2 https://medium.com/@paulgannonbike/for-a-more-accurate-accou... "John Bull Jan 18, 2018 Hello Paul, Thanks very much for your response! Goes without saying that I bow to your more expert knowledge. Your book has been on my Amazon wish list for a while, but I’d never seen it as anything other than “from other sellers” (and I’m always wary about doing that as I’ve never been sure how much money — if any — makes it to the author). For the record, this piece was originally written in 2015 based on my notes from a series of public lectures I attended then on WW1 intelligence and how the telegram was broken. When I was cleaning out some stuff last night, I realised I’d never published it, so quickly cross-checked key bits against the various general histories of intelligence / WW1 / Dilly and Bletchley I had to hand and published it. I now very much wish your own book had been on those shelves! Sounds like it would have caught a lot more things. I’ll make some quick rewrites based on the info you provided here and that is on your blog tonight. Do you have a preferred online retail source for your book? It sounds like there’s alot more about this I can still read, which is both depressing and exciting in equal measure! I can also then add a direct link to it within the main article."
wise_blood 9mo ago
time to re-read Cryptonomicon and all the "if I decrypt this message and act on it, they will know that I decrypted it and change the code"

85 points by tony-allan 9mo ago

Jára Cimrman spotted

Quite an interesting story, and it makes me wonder what modern stories are covers for intelligence capabilities. I feel there must be more of them, since computers and modern communication have created so many opportunities to spy.

bombcar 9mo ago
There’s even a term for it - “parallel construction” and it’s relatively common.

jadenpeterson 9mo ago

How did they accomplish this without a PM reminding them to get alignment?

jibal 9mo ago

https://medium.com/@paulgannonbike/for-a-more-accurate-account-see-my-blog-2f4457745ca2 https://medium.com/@paulgannonbike/for-a-more-accurate-accou... "John Bull Jan 18, 2018 Hello Paul, Thanks very much for your response! Goes without saying that I bow to your more expert knowledge. Your book has been on my Amazon wish list for a while, but I’d never seen it as anything other than “from other sellers” (and I’m always wary about doing that as I’ve never been sure how much money — if any — makes it to the author). For the record, this piece was originally written in 2015 based on my notes from a series of public lectures I attended then on WW1 intelligence and how the telegram was broken. When I was cleaning out some stuff last night, I realised I’d never published it, so quickly cross-checked key bits against the various general histories of intelligence / WW1 / Dilly and Bletchley I had to hand and published it. I now very much wish your own book had been on those shelves! Sounds like it would have caught a lot more things. I’ll make some quick rewrites based on the info you provided here and that is on your blog tonight. Do you have a preferred online retail source for your book? It sounds like there’s alot more about this I can still read, which is both depressing and exciting in equal measure! I can also then add a direct link to it within the main article."

wise_blood 9mo ago

time to re-read Cryptonomicon and all the "if I decrypt this message and act on it, they will know that I decrypted it and change the code"