One-Time Pod

by Kurt Urban

Here’s a story about a man sentenced to 116 years in prison. He appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court… and won. The court’s controversial ruling dramatically changed a new and fast-growing field of law, one that could shape the future of US society. In this episode of One-Time Pod, how the courts are upending the battle between privacy and surveillance.

Bibliography

Auxier, B., Rainie, L., Anderson, M., Perrin, A., Kumar, M., & Turner, E. (2020, August 17). Americans and Privacy: Concerned, Confused and Feeling Lack of Control Over Their Personal Information. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/.

Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. ___ (2018)

United States v. Moalin, No. 13-50572 (9th Cir. 2020)

Findlaw Attorney Writers. (2018, April 3). Right to Privacy In the Workplace In the Information Age. Findlaw. https://corporate.findlaw.com/law-library/right-to-privacy-in-the-workplace-in-the-information-age.html.

DeMarco, J. V., & Fox, B. A. (2019, April 1). Data rights and data wrongs: Civil litigation and the new privacy norms. https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/data-rights-and-data-wrongs.

Kerr, O. S. (2019, October 31). Understanding the Supreme Court’s Carpenter Decision. Lawfare. https://www.lawfareblog.com/understanding-supreme-courts-carpenter-decision.

Kerr, O. S. (2020, September 8). Did the Ninth circuit create a new Fourth Amendment notice requirement for Surveillance Practices? https://reason.com/volokh/2020/09/08/did-the-ninth-circuit-create-a-new-fourth-amendment-notice-requirement-for-surveillance-practices/.

Music:

Hitman by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3880-hitman

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Comfortable Mystery 4 by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3530-comfortable-mystery-4

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Beauty Flow by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flow

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Floating Cities by Kevin Macleod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3765-floating-cities

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Image: “Call me all the time,” Pulpolux, Flickr, CC BY-NC

by Benjamin Cox

On this episode of One-Time Pod we will be discussing President Trump’s 2020 ban on the viral video app TikTok, and the subsequent controversy between the United States and China. Should users of apps like TikTok fear that their data may fall into the wrong hands?

References

Allyn, B. (2021, February 11). Biden Administration Pauses Trump’s TikTok Ban, Backs Off Pressure To Sell App. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966584204/biden-administration-pauses-trumps-tiktok-ban-backs-off-pressure-for-tiktok-to-s

Department, P. B., & 10, M. (2021, March 10). TikTok top countries iOS revenue 2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1090641/tiktok-ios-revenue-in-leading-markets/#:~:text=TikTok iOS revenue in leading markets 2021&text=According to recent industry measurements,throughout the Apple App Store

Fowler, G. (2020, July 13). Perspective | Is it time to delete TikTok? A guide to the rumors and the real privacy risks. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/07/13/tiktok-privacy/

Gertz, G. (2020, August 07). Why is the Trump administration banning TikTok and WeChat? Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/08/07/why-is-the-trump-administration-banning-tiktok-and-wechat/

Lerman, R. (2020, October 30). TikTok creators successfully block U.S. app ban with lawsuit. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/30/tiktok-ban-halted-injunction/

Tidy, J. (2020, August 03). TikTok: What is the app and how much data does it collect? BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53476117

Zhong, R., & Schultz, K. (2020, June 30). With India’s TikTok Ban, the World’s Digital Walls Grow Higher. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/technology/india-china-tiktok.html

Audio sources

Image: “TikTok,” Solen Feyissa, Flickr, CC BY-SA

Is it legal for police to track suspected criminals using location data from their cellphone providers? Should people have the right to have their personal data deleted from databases and websites? Are privacy concerns about apps like TikTok warranted? How might our lives change when we can be identified by surveillance cameras by our faces or even just the way that we walk?

Welcome to Season 4 of One-Time Pod. These are just a few of the hard questions about privacy and surveillance we tackle this season, through episodes produced by students in Derek Bruff’s spring 2021 first-year writing seminar. Each episode tells a story from the recent history of cryptography, one that explores the role of encryption in the world today.

For more on Dr. Bruff’s first-year seminar on cryptography, visit the course homepage: https://derekbruff.org/blogs/fywscrypto. For more on his podcast assignment, read his 2019 blog post, “Building a Better Podcast Assignment,” available here: https://derekbruff.org/?p=3558. And for more examples of student-produced audio, check out Dr. Bruff’s other podcast, VandyVox: http://vandyvox.com/.

Intro music: “To Be Decided,” Mystery Mammal, CC-BY

by Audrey Scudder

We are constantly surrounded by music in our everyday lives, and as technology has progressed, it’s become even more prevalent. But what if this music could be used as more than just a form of entertainment? For centuries, authors, composers, and scientists have been experimenting with the possibility of musical cryptography and steganography. In this episode, we explore different methods of encrypting and hiding messages in music, the history of the practice, and how musical cryptography affects how we analyze music from the past and how we could produce music in the future.

Audio:

“Acoustic Guitar Loop” from http://www.orangefreesounds.com/

“Radio Noise” from http://www.orangefreesounds.com/

“Electronic Beat” from http://www.orangefreesounds.com/

“Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43” by Sergei Rachmaninoff from https://imslp.org/

“Variations on an Original Theme ‘Enigma’, Op.36” By Edward Elgar from https://imslp.org/ (Movements 1, 9, 10 used)

Sources:

Thicknesse, P. (1772). A Treatise on the Art of Decyphering, and of Writing in Cypher with an Harmonic Alphabet. London: W. Brown.

Wikipedia contributors. (2019, September 19). Dorabella Cipher. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:31, October 30, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dorabella_Cipher&oldid=916457471

Image: “Mixing Console and Laptop,” Dejan Krsmanovic, Flickr, CC BY

by Spencer Jones

This podcast is about the Lorenz cipher machine. The Lorenz cipher was Hitler’s preferred method of encryption used by himself and all his officials for communication. The Lorenz is simply described as an Enigma machine—- with millions of more possible keys and configurations. This podcast describes the conception of the Lorenz, how the encryption works, and how the code was ultimately broken by the Allies with the help of the world’s first computer.

References:

(n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2019, from https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/soco/projects/2008-09/colossus/lorenzmachine.html.

(n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/soco/projects/2008-09/colossus/history.html.

How Lorenz was different from Enigma. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2019, from https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/how-lorenz-was-different-from-enigma/.

Lorenz SZ-40/42. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2019, from https://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/lorenz/sz40/index.htm.

The Imitation Game: Turing, Bletchley and the Colossus. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2019, from https://www.cliomuse.com/the-imitation-game-turing-bletchley-and-the-colossus.html.

The Lorenz Cipher. (n.d.). Retrieved October 26, 2019, from http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/fish.htm.

[singingbanana]. (2014, September 7). Lorenz: Hitler’s “Unbreakable” Cipher Machine [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBsfWSQVtYA

[Sounds of Changes]. (2015, November 24). Teleprinter automatic printing [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh0-TcjqieE

[Sounds of Changes]. (2015, November 24). Teleprinter typing [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlAEXiJX1xc

[ParadoxMirror]. (2011, June 26) Radio Static Sound Effect [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffIdh0CZWs

(2019). Snowy Forest – Electronica Ambient Chill Out – Free Download [Recorded by Kabbalistic Village]. On Free Music to Use Youtube, Vimeo videos and Podcasts – Updated August 2019! [MP3 File]. Soundcloud.

Image: Lorenz cams, Ted Coles, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

by Chandu Kona

Ranked among the greatest unsolved ciphers in history, Ricky McCormick’s notes have baffled intelligence agencies, wanna-be sleuths, and everyone in between for the past two decades. In 1999, Ricky McCormick was found dead in a ditch with two notes hidden inside his pocket. First revealed to the public a decade later, the notes appear to be filled with nonsense and unreadable sentences; but this seemingly random sequence of characters may not be so random at all. The authorities believe that these notes may hold the key, quite literally, to solving Ricky McCormick’s murder, but to this day the notes have yet to be deciphered.

References

Ricky McCormick. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://cipherfoundation.org/modern-ciphers/ricky-mccormick/.

Tritto, C. (2019, July 29). Code Dead: Do the encrypted writings of Ricky McCormick hold the key to his mysterious death? Retrieved from https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/code-dead-do-the-encrypted-writings-of-ricky-mccormick-hold-the-key-to-his-mysterious-death/Content?oid=2498959.

Help Solve an Open Murder Case, Part 2. (2011, March 29). Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/help-solve-an-open-murder-case-part-2.

Nickpelling, & Nickpelling. (2013, March 12). Ricky McCormick’s mysterious notes… Retrieved from http://ciphermysteries.com/2013/03/12/ricky-mccormicks-two-mysterious-notes.

More information may be found in any one of the hyperlinks pasted above.

Audio Sources

https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/genres/genre/contemporary/

https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/genres/genre/mystery/

All music taken from Kevin Macleod on incompetech.filmmusic.io.

Image: Ricky McCormick Note #2, Wikimedia Commons

by Stella Wang

Thomas Jefferson is revered as a diplomat, politician, and thinker, but his role as an innovator is lesser-known. One of his many inventions includes the wheel cipher: America’s first cryptographic device. In this episode of One Time Pod, the story of the wheel cipher, and Étienne Bazeries’ invention of an extremely similar device 100 years later, is uncovered.

Narrator: Stella Wang

Thomas Jefferson: Zach Gruber

Étienne Bazeries: Cooper Scanlon

Works Cited

Kahn, D. (1973). The code breakers: The story of secret writing. New York: The Macmillan Company.

Wheel Cipher. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/wheel-cipher.

Candela, R. (1938). The military cipher of commandant bazeries. New York: Cardanus Press.

Cypher Wheels. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://people.smp.uq.edu.au/Infinity/Infinity%204/Cypher_wheels.html

Audio Sources

Retrieved from orangefreesounds.com

Retrieved from http://www.patrioticon.org/patriotic-soundfiles.htm

More information

http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/index.php/Bazeries_cylinder

https://www.staff.uni-mainz.de/pommeren/Cryptology/Classic/4_Cylinder/deViaris.html

Image: Jefferson Disk, Wikimedia Commons

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_disk#/media/File:Jefferson’s_disk_cipher.jpg

by Wayne Wu

This episode talks about the story of two ciphers that appear in the magazines in the 1980s. A reader named W. B. Tyler wrote the ciphers in a letter and sent to the editor Edgar Allan Poe. The two images below are the two ciphers of W. B. Tyler. After these two ciphers were published in the magazines, these two ciphertexts had been forgotten for about a hundred fifty years and no one had solved these. With the proposition that Tyler and Poe were actually the same person, these two ciphertexts emerged again. Finally, these two ciphertexts were solved, but more mysteries came up. In this podcast, you will not only learn the methods of solving these two ciphertexts, but also the mystery behind the ciphertexts. Want to know more about the mystery of W. B. Tyler and Edgar Allan Poe? You definitely can’t miss this episode.

Works Cited

Hodgson, J. A. (1993, October 1). Decoding Poe? Poe, W. B. Tyler, and Cryptography, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/27710899?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.

Christensen, C. (2006 Fall). Ciphers that Substitute Symbols, from https://www.nku.edu/~christensen/section 5 symbols.pdf.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Gold-Bug” (1843). (2019, July 18), from https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/edgar-allan-poes-the-gold-bug-1843/.

Tomokiyo, S. (2015, January 7). Solution of Tyler’s Cryptograms in Poe’s Article, from http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/poe2.htm#SEC1.

Bokler Software Corp. (2000, October 13). Cipher Solved But Mystery Remains, from http://web.archive.org/web/20120824222113/http://www.bokler.com/eapoechallengesolution.html

Audio Sources

Alexander Blu. Airy melancholic synth pad. Retrieved from: http://www.orangefreesounds.com/airy-melancholic-synth-pad/

Main Street Walk. Retrieved from: https://www.audioblocks.com/stock-audio/main-street-walk-rxhgnqhnudhk0wxrmvp.html

by Kellia Love

My podcast “Kaczynski Ciphers: The Unabomber’s Unused Encryptions” is about the serial killer Dr. Theodore Kaczynski. It covers what he did before starting a life of crime, the reason for his crimes, the consequences of his actions, and ultimately, what led him to be caught and his criminal career coming to an abrupt halt. The podcast also covers how the FBI initially reacted to the ciphers that they found and how they went about the situation. For a good portion of the podcast, I explain how the two codes Kaczynski created worked, and also provided an example of how someone could encode something using his methods.

References

Kifner, John. (1992, April 6). On the Suspect’s Trail: Life in Montana. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/05/us/suspect-s-trail-life-montana-gardening-bicycling-reading-exotically.html

Kintz, Theresa. (2014, December 16). Interview with Ted Kaczynski. Retrieved from https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/theresa-kintz-interview-with-ted-kaczynski.html

Klaus, Schmeh. (2014, March 8). Klaus Schmeh’s Unabomber Cipher Page. Retrieved from https://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/klaus-schmehs-unabomber-cipher-page

Klaus, Schmeh. (2016, September 4). The Ciphers of the Unabomber. Retrieved from https://scienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/2016/09/04/the-ciphers-of-the-unabomber/?all=1

Knowles, William. (1997 December 26). Cryptographer Examines Kaczynski’s Journal.

Unabomber. (2016, May 18). Retrieved from www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/unabomber

Audio Sources

From https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music?nv=1

Image: Unabomber shack, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

by Daniel Kim

One of the oldest written languages ever, Egyptian hieroglyphics have remained an unsolvable mystery for hundreds of years. And while the intent was not to hide any sort of message, the process of figuring out the correlation between hieroglyphic characters and its meaning took centuries to figure out, which is why they can be considered one of the earliest forms of cryptography known to mankind.

Works Cited

Cryptographic hieroglyphic writing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/hieroglyphic-writing/Cryptographic-hieroglyphic-writing​.

This article helps make the connections between hieroglyphics and cryptography: how the two relate, or rather how hieroglyphics are the earliest example of cryptography. The fact that this ancient language confused many experts for centuries shows the complexity of the language and the cracking of them would be difficult.

Dirda, M. (2012, August 22). Book World: ‘Cracking the Egyptian Code,’ by Andrew Robinson, explores hieroglyphs. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-world-cracking-the-egyptian-co de-by-andrew-robinson-explores-hieroglyphs/2012/08/22/db83be96-e0f5-11e1-a19c-fcfa365 396c8_story.html​.

The actual cracking of the hieroglyphics is what I want to focus on, because this is essentially what I believe makes this language a cipher language. This will go into who figured out the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphics and how he/she was able to figure it out.

Scalf, F., & Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. (n.d.). The Rosetta Stone: Unlocking the Ancient Egyptian Language. Retrieved from https://www.arce.org/resource/rosetta-stone-unlocking-ancient-egyptian-language​.

Related to the source above, this will go into the actual cracking of the cipher language. Specifically, the Rosetta Stone was an instrumental part of the process, so I want to touch upon the rock that holds the secrets of the Egyptians.

Scoville, P. (2019, October 10). Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Egyptian_Hieroglyphs/​.

Singh, S. (2011, February 17). History – Ancient History in depth: The Decipherment of Hieroglyphs. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/decipherment_01.shtml​.

Audio Sources

Retrieved from https://www.pond5.com/royalty-free-music/

Egyptian Ceremony

Retrieved from https://gumroad.com/

Dark Tension Rising

Retrieved from https://themeforest.net/

War Drums

Inspirational Background Music

Retrieved from http://soundbible.com/

Wind

Retrieved from youtube.com/

Title: Jazzy by LiQWYD

Genre and Mood: Hip Hop & Rap + Calm

License: Royalty-free music for YouTube, Facebook and Instagram videos giving the appropriate credit.

Retrieved from https://www.toneden.io/afterinfinity-music/post/continuum-royalty-free

Continuum

Retrieved from http://www.orangefreesounds.com/

Simple Peaceful Piano Melody

Mystical Background — Mysterious and Melodic Music

Image: “Hieroglyphics,” Andrea, Flickr (CC BY-SA)