So what does cryptography mean?

cryptography:
It is the study of encryption, the art/science to create and use codes and/or ciphers with the purpose of enciphering as well as deciphering.
After a relatively vivid but slow development of cryptography for nearly 4.000 years the inventions of the telegraph, radio and computer had a high impact on the velocity of further inventions concerning encryption.
Most of the time economic, political or military reasons lie behind the necessity of encryption. As visible from the timetable cryptography it is also done for private and individual interests. An extraordinary example for this is the Braille Code, developed as a possibility for blind people to read and write.
A lot of very interesting and intelligent websites about cryptography can be found in the Internet.Some websites offering links to various cryptography-websites are:
http://www.ciia.org/links.htm
http://www.isse.gmu.edu/~njohnson/Security/stegres.htm
http://www.hack.gr/users/dij/crypto/links.html
http://www.achiever.com/freehmpg/cryptology/lessons.html
http://www.iks-jena.de/mitarb/lutz/security/links.html
http://world.std.com/~franl/crypto/
http://home.tu-clausthal.de/~inas/Links.html
http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/crypto-security.html
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/xref/0,5716,5453,00.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rak/web_sites.html

Further there exists a wide range of web-magazines/newsletters/mailing lists on cryptography, e.g.:
Crypto-Gram Newsletter: http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram.html
Journal of Computer Security: http://www.gocsi.com/m_form.htm
Cypherpunks: http://www.inet-one.com/cypherpunks/
Stegano-L: http://www.thur.de/ulf/stegano/sub.html
ZD Internet Magazine: http://www.zdnet.com/

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History: Communist Tradition

Following the communist revolutions of the 20th century all "means of production" became the property of the state as representative of "the masses". Private property ceased to exist. While moral rights of the creator were recognized and economic rights acknowledged with a one-time cash award, all subsequent rights reverted to the state.

With the transformation of many communist countries to a market system most of them have now introduced laws establishing markets in intellectual property rights. Still the high rate of piracy reflects a certain lack of legal tradition.

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Ron Rivest

Ronald L. Rivest is Webster Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in MIT's EECS Department. He was one of three persons in a team to invent the RSA public-key cryptosystem. The co-authors were Adi Shamir and Leonard M. Adleman.

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Sun Microsystems

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Palo Alto, USA, Sun Microsystems manufactures computer workstations, servers, and software.

http://www.sun.com

For more detailed information see the Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,108249+1+105909,00.html .

http://www.sun.com/
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0...
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Mark

A mark (trademark or service mark) is "... a sign, or a combination of signs, capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings. The sign may particularly consist of one or more distinctive words, letters, numbers, drawings or pictures, emblems, colors or combinations of colors, or may be three-dimensional..." (WIPO) To be protected a mark must be registered in a government office whereby generally the duration is limited in time, but can be periodically (usually every 10 years) renewed.

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