I was one of the first members of the Computer History Museum (well, I tried to be #256, but I got some number slightly higher 🙂 ). Anyways, I get emails about their upcoming events and I decided to go to the one tonight given by Whitfield Diffie of Diffie-Hellman fame. I really really enjoy computer history, especially when it is recited by those who actually made history.
It was a nice, non-technical talk about his life when he was working for McCarthy (of Lisp fame) and trying to figure out some of the tough problems (The Paperless Office, the Internet, etc) that they were thinking about back in the late 60’s. He gave a good talk and has an amazing memory for events.
Someone asked him if he used encrypted email. He replied that he did back in his days with Northern Telecom (essentially pre 1990), but he hasn’t gotten around to it since 🙂
… he does however still use voice encryption systems on telephones!