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Abstract |
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What we seem to fear most is to get into a status of insecurity - given that the definitions of the word security vary extremely. Thus methods of securing ideas, people, things or data increase their popularity and necessity tremendously. One of them is cryptography - as well as the prohibition/restriction of cryptography. Questions whether cryptography is absolutely inevitable or on the contrary supports certain criminals more than the ordinary internet-user, are arising. And as the last developments in international and national law showed, Northern governments are changing opinion about that, due to economic tasks. Business needs cryptography. Still, the use of cryptography is no recent invention. Already the first steps in writing or even in human communication itself meant developing codes for keeping secrets at the same time as providing information.
This site gives a timeline for the history of cryptography, provides an introduction into the most important terms of tools and devices connected to that topic, and finally tries to interpret necessities for and ideas against cryptography or in other words leads through the current discussions concerning democracy and governmental fears and doubts regarding the security of data-transmission.
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