Bruce Schneier begins his book Secrets and Lies with a three page list of news items on cryptography and related issues, he encountered in a one month period from various sources. I am interested in finding out how typical his experience was. I therefore propose the following experiment: Choose a daily or weekly, online or offline news source and monitor it for articles related to cryptography or security. Examples of possible news sources might be The Economist , The New York Times or ABC Nightly News . Examples of articles related to cryptography can range from stories about the lastest release of an Internet worm or virus to stories on government surveillance of web traffic.

As soon as you have decided on a news source, let me know, either in person or by email. In order to ensure that everyone choose something different, news sources will accepted on a first come first served basis, i.e., if you pick something already picked you have to come up with something else. (Some limited duplication may be allowed.)

To be handed in : For offline sources, hand in a photocopy of each article found with the date clearly marked. For online sources you have a number of choices including a pointer a file containing the text of all of the articles, a diskette with the same or a website with pointers to all of the individual articles (preferred).

I would encourage everyone to share their findings with the rest of the class. If you come across an article you think would be of interest, then bring it to class and we will discuss it. If the article is online then you might consider broadcasting it to the class email list which I will activate unmoderated.

Report problems to dkrizanc at wesleyan.edu